Serge Mouille (24 December 1922 – 1988) was a French

industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...

er and

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), pl ...

. He is best known for his

light fixture A light fixture (US English), light fitting (UK English), or luminaire is an electrical device containing an electric lamp that provides illumination. All light fixtures have a fixture body and one or more lamps. The lamps may be in sockets fo ...

designs.

Biography

He was born and raised in a popular part of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. At the age of 13 he was admitted to the

École des Arts Appliqués École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Sav ...

. His area of study was

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

and he earned a diploma in silversmithing. After having worked a few years in the workshop of Gilbert Lacroix, he opened his own workshop in 1945 with the intention of creating silverware utensils. In 1953 he began researching and designing light fixtures. During this period he was also supervising the gold smithing department at l'École des Arts Appliqués. In 1955 he was inducted into the ''

Société des Artistes Décorateurs The Societé des artistes décorateurs (SAD, Society of Decorative Artists) was a French society of designers of furniture, interiors and decorative arts that was active from 1901 until the 2000s. It sponsored an annual Salon des artistes décorat ...

'' ("the Interior Decorators' Society"). The following year, Steph Simon opened a design gallery a
145 Bd St Germain
in Paris. Displaying the work of

Charlotte Perriand Charlotte Perriand (24 October 1903 – 27 October 1999) was a French architect and designer. Her work aimed to create functional living spaces in the belief that better design helps in creating a better society. In her article "L'Art de Vivre" f ...

and

Jean Prouvé Jean Prouvé (8 April 1901 – 23 March 1984) was a French metal worker, self-taught architect and designer. Le Corbusier designated Prouvé a constructeur, blending architecture and engineering. Prouvé's main achievement was transferring man ...

, the gallery soon also featured the work of Serge Mouille,

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several ...

, and Jean Luce. The designs of these artists soon become more widely known thanks to orders placed by institutions such as, Cité universitaire d’Antony,

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

University of Aix-Marseille Aix-Marseille University (AMU; french: Aix-Marseille Université; formally incorporated as ''Université d'Aix-Marseille'') is a public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II of ...

, and Centre d’essais en vol de Brétigny. Serge Mouille suffered from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

for many years, and in 1959 he was forced to suspend his design activities and undergo treatment. In 1961, thanks to the Société de Création des Modèles, he was able to exhibit his latest light fixture designs at the trade show ''

Salon des arts ménagers Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

''. These designs combined the concepts of

fluorescence Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, tha ...

and incandescence. Production of his light fixtures stopped definitively in 1961. Serge Mouille remains famous primarily for his minimalistic designs and use of uniformly black painted metal materials. His wall-mounted spot light fixture with articulated arms is typical for his discrete, yet highly functional designs.

References

;Cited ;General * *

External links

SergeMouilleUSA.com: Official website and distributor for United States

sergemouille.de: Official distributor for Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mouille, Serge French industrial designers French goldsmiths Lighting engineers 1922 births 1988 deaths