Mathieu Matégot bookcases

French/Hungarian designer Mathieu Matégot is born on 4 April 1910 in the Hungarian town of Tápió-Sully, just outside Budapest. Matégot would go on to become one of the most recognised French designers of the 1950s, creating several design classics.

Mathieu Matégot studied at the School of Fine Arts and Architecture in Budapest from 1925 to 1929. At the beginning of his career, he created stage designs for the Hungarian National Theatre. He would then travel to Italy and the United States before eventually settling in France in 1931. During his first two years in France, Matégot designed both clothing and wall hangings. In 1933, he creates his first rattan and steel furniture.

During the Second World War, Mathieu Matégot is forced to put his career on hold when he joins the French army as a volunteer. As a soldier, he is captured and sent to work in a factory making mechanical accessories. During this time, despite a tough existence, he managed to develop an understanding of sheet metal and its potential. After the war, Matégot set up a workshop to make handmade furniture using metal, rattan, glass and sheet metal, among other materials.

Mathieu Matégot's workshop produces chairs, tables, sideboards, desks and furnishings. What his products have in common is their clever, practical and slightly funny design. His objects are produced in an edition of 200 and become extremely popular.

The Danish brand Gubi has today taken up the production of several objects, furniture and lighting created by Matégot. Some examples are the Nagasaki chair he designed in 1954, the Copacabana armchair designed in the same year and the Sattelite lamp from 1950. What characterises and distinguishes these is that they are all made of perforated metal, the material that Mathieu Matégot pioneered in furniture making. Matégot's creations are now part of the collections of many famous museums such as the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.