Eugène Vallin (1856 – 21 July 1922) was a French

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

designer and manufacturer, as well as an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Life and career

Vallin was born at Herbéviller, and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nancy. He was apprenticed in the studio of his uncle, also a furniture maker, beginning in 1881. His first projects were for church interiors and furniture but quickly he became a disciple of Art Nouveau, in part under the influence of

Émile Gallé Émile Gallé (8 May 1846 in Nancy – 23 September 1904 in Nancy) was a French artist and designer who worked in glass, and is considered to be one of the major innovators in the French Art Nouveau movement. He was noted for his designs of ...

, for whom he created the door of Gallé's new studios. But he was most famous for his furniture, designing entire living rooms and dining room ensembles for notable personalities in Nancy, including Jean-Baptiste "Eugène" Corbin, Charles Masson, Albert Bergeret, and others. In 1895-6, he built a new studio and his own house on the Boulevard Lobau in Nancy, which became what is now considered (in a crude form) the first Art Nouveau edifice in the city with the help of his friend, architect Georges Biet. In return, Vallin was responsible for the furniture that adorned Biet's house at 22, rue de la Commanderie, in Nancy. In 1901, along with

Antonin Daum Antonin may refer to: People * Antonin (name) Places ;Poland * Antonin, Jarocin County, Greater Poland Voivodeship * Antonin, Kalisz County, Greater Poland Voivodeship * Antonin, Oborniki County, Greater Poland Voivodeship * Antonin, Ostr ...

and

Louis Majorelle Louis-Jean-Sylvestre Majorelle, usually known simply as Louis Majorelle, (26 September 1859 – 15 January 1926) was a French decorator and furniture designer who manufactured his own designs, in the French tradition of the ''ébéniste'' ...

, Vallin became one of three vice-presidents of the board of directors of the ''

École de Nancy École de Nancy, or the Nancy School, was a group of Art Nouveau artisans and designers working in Nancy, France between 1890 and 1914. Major figures included the furniture designer Louis Majorelle, ebonist and glass artist Jacques Grüber, the ...

''. In architecture, he was one of the pioneers of construction in

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

reinforced by steel, a technique he used for the construction of the pavilion of the ''École de Nancy'' at the International Exposition of the East of France in 1909. He died in Nancy.

External links

Musée de l'Ecole de Nancy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vallin, Eugene 1856 births 1922 deaths People from Meurthe-et-Moselle 19th-century French architects 20th-century French architects French furniture designers French furniture makers French decorative artists Art Nouveau designers Art Nouveau architects Members of the École de Nancy