Which do you feel is the finest piece your father made for Artifort?
‘The collection my father developed for Artifort is so incredible, I would have liked to name them all, but if I had to choose just one, it would be the Mushroom® because of the ingenuity it represents and for its revolutionary aesthetic. It was The model that made everything possible afterwards.’
Could you tell me a bit more about your father’s working methods, where he got his inspiration from, what motivated him?
‘My father was like all great creative spirits, he focused on a goal and anything around him might become a source of inspiration: nature, history, traveling… I think his main motivation was wanting to feel useful; he was also spurred on by a fierce desire to bring his country into modernity.’
Are you like your father? Like in your creativity, character and personality?
‘People tell me that I look like him, and I’m happy about that; it’s a compliment. I haven’t inherited my father’s talents as a designer but that doesn’t really matter, I would have disliked it having to be compared with him on his discipline. And anyway, he was so productive in his career there is a lot to tell, to show, to stand up for. This is what our family company Paulin, Paulin, Paulin, is all about. I am determined, alongside my mother and my wife, Alice Lemoine, to do everything I can to demonstrate the significance of his work and the influence he had on the design world.’