Jean-Louis Avril

Born in 1935 in France, Jean-Louis Avril studied architecture at Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts. Technique is central to his building process. He is passionate about jazz and is interested in American minimal art, particularly the work of Donald Judd. This monograph traces his career and focuses on his furniture, which represents the taste and aspirations of a generation of baby boomers. The choice of Celloderm, a derivative of cardboard, allows for a simple and accurate design language. The solutions display strong ideas: a beautiful shape, a practical function, an accessible price. His creations are very successful. With the creation of the company Marty-Lac (Carton Applications) in 1967 associated with his father-in-law, he achieved commercial success by developing numerous models of furniture, seats, tables, bed, shelves and lighting. They offer a strategy, a catalogue, sales outlet and export to England with Hull traders. Faithful to his commitment as an architect, he also imagines interior spaces with great spatial efficiency. Text in French. AUTHOR: Anne Bony is an art historian, specialised in decorative arts. She is the project manager and author, at Editions du Regard, of an important collection devoted to the decorative arts of the 20th century by decades: the '10s, the '20s ? up to the '90s. She is also the author of Design, a history of design from 1851 to the present day (Larousse 2024), and at Editions Norma, Ingrid Donat (2017), Rene Prou (2018), Vincent Dubourg (2018) and Jean Carcon (2020). SELLING POINTS: . This monograph traces the career of Jean-Louis Avril, a French designer famous for his line of furniture made entirely of Celloderm 40 colour, 40 b/w illustrations