Serge Mouille

SERGE MOUILLE (1922-1988)

Designer Serge Mouille was born in 1922 in Paris. He earned his master silversmith diploma in 1941 from the École des Arts Appliqués in Paris, studying under sculptor and silversmith Gilbert Lacroix, for whom, on graduation, he went to work as an assistant. In 1945, he began teaching at the École des Arts Appliqués and established his own metalworking studio, where he designed chandeliers, sconces, and hand rails, and, beginning in the 1950s, a variety of standing and wall-mounted lamps and sconces, for which he is arguably best known. Many of his angular, almost insect-like designs during this period had sculptural, even kinetic qualities. Notable pieces include his Three-Arm Floor Lamp (1952), Flammes (1954), Saturn (1958), as well as the Colonnes floor lamp collection (1962), which embraced the newest lighting technology of the time—fluorescent tubes. During the late 1950s, Mouille also designed jewelry as well as institutional lighting for a variety of clients, including schools in Marseilles and Strasbourg and the modernist cathedral in Bizerte, Tunisia.

In 1955, Mouille became a member of the French National Art Society, was invited to join the Société des Artistes Décorateurs, and was awarded the Charles Plumet prize. In 1958, he received a Diploma of Honor at the Brussels Expo. By 1964, he had stopped producing lighting and spent his remaining years designing jewelry and teaching at the École des Arts Appliqués. He passed away in 1988.