Zora Lighting: 六月 2015

Hello fellow Serge Mouille readers , it’s Eric from Zora Lighting! I am going with an absolute fave piece of mine: the Serge Mouille lamp. Howerver you’ve been seeing these a lot lately and didn’t quite know much about it. It stands out, it catches your eye, but what’s the deal?

Born in Paris, Serge Mouille (1922-1988) parents, a policeman and a seamstress, were disappointed by his decision, at the age of 13, to enroll in the School of Applied Arts' silver workshop. The youngest student there, he embraced metallurgy and silversmithing and was so gifted at the trade, he started teaching at 25. After getting his degree, he worked for a few different companies and apprenticed under Gabriel Lacroix before starting his own workshop. In 1953, Mouille introduced his first lighting design, the Three-Arm Floor Lamp. Drawing on his intimate knowledge of metals, as well as his interest in musculature and skeletons, the Three-Arm Lamp was both minimal and organic in form. The shape of the shades was inspired by one of his favorite things the female form. "Lamps are there to be touched," said the designer. Though his logic might be somewhat suspect, the design was anything but. The Three-Arm Lamp has gone on to become an icon of modern design, originals fetching as much as six figures at auction.