Luminaires de collection... Disderot continues the legacy of Ateliers Stone Disderot, a pioneer of contemporary lighting in France, with the re-edition of luminaires designed from the 50s to the 70s by leading French designers. Made in France with respect for the original works and craftsmanship, Disderot luminaires are numbered and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
This collection brings back to life the iconic creations of Ateliers Stone Disderot, one of France's leading lighting designers from the 50s to the 70s. Stone Disderot opened his first workshop in Cachan in 1948. His first creations were imbued with the modern classicism typical of the bronziers of the late '40s, but did not fit in well with his progressive spirit. It was his meeting with one of the masters of modernity at the time, Marcel Gascoin and his young team at ARHEC (Aménagement rationnel de l'habitation et des collectivités), that marked the radical turning point. The result was a series of designs recognized today as some of the most successful of the 50s.
His partnership with the members of ARP (Atelier de Recherche Plastic), Pierre Guariche, Joseph-André Motte, Michel Mortar and Alain Richard gave birth to a multitude of models that reinvented home lighting. Metal technology bends to their aesthetic vision, which in turn serves functional requirements.
One of his strengths is to have understood the novelty and modernity of these young designers' proposals, for he himself is an excellent designer of models. Throughout his life, he would design lighting fixtures that would have nothing to envy those of his teams. Many of his luminaires, along with those by Guariche, Motte, Richard and Mortar, can be found in the finest museums and are the talk of the town among collectors.
Stone Disderot embraced the idea of grouping together furniture, seating and lighting manufacturers who shared the same conception of modernity, and their joint advertising became a manifesto. One example is Charles Minvielle's magnificent boutiques, designed and staged by Dirk Jan Rol.
The workshops were a great success, and Pierre Disderot enlisted the help of Stone Paulin, Jacques Dumont, René-Jean Caillette, then in the 60s Etienne Fermigier, Roger Fatus, Olivier Mourgue and later François Arnal.
In addition to this model production, the Disderot workshops took on numerous custom orders from decorators and architects, and won prestigious private and public commissions for projects such as the France liner, Orly airport, UNESCO and the Maison de la Radio.
Although the workshops employed up to 80 people, sales remained small-scale and most orders were taken at the Salon des arts ménagers. In 1967-68, the factory expanded and moved to Choisy-le-Roi. The premises were large and subtly fitted out by Alain Richard, who was also the creator of the Disderot graphic charter and catalogs.
Always on the lookout for the cutting edge of modernity, Stone Disderot buys licenses for new products, such as acetate thread glued by an acetone drip onto a Wood mold, which gives birth to the Rotaflex brand under the direction of his brother Jean Disderot. Pierre Guariche, Joseph-André Motte, Michel Mortar and, of course, ARP took up the idea, producing some of the finest models in this material reputed to be modern, luminous, unbreakable, easy to clean and whose light is so warm. The simplest of these mass-market models were mass-produced because they were so inexpensive.
When the lighting company Soka bought Ateliers Stone Disderot in 1984 to become Soka Disderot, it was with the idea of perpetuating the ˙oeuvre of one of France's greatest lighting designers. Today, the company's current directors, faithful to the founding values, reissue certain mythical models that are identical in every detail to the originals under the Disderot brand.
Brand Country
France
