Janette Laverrière

This monograph is dedicated to Janette Laverrière (1909-2011), a committed woman who played an important role in the design of interior architecture and furniture in the 20th century.

In 1931, she met the decorator Maurice Pré, her future husband, in the office of Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, a demanding teacher. They worked together for several years, creating, among other things, "Le Pied-à-terre d'un archéologue" for the 1937 Exhibition with Maxime Old.

Separated from Maurice Pré in 1945, Janette Laverrière freed herself from tradition, appropriating new materials to invent economical and ingenious furniture. She entered the collections of the Mobilier National, designed the presidential palace in Niamey and the Swiss Hospital in Paris, and furnished or built the homes of intellectual friends, with a constant search for simplicity and a poetry that is particularly evident in the mirrors she has continued to create since 1936.