FROM THE INTERIOR for the Air France Concorde, to silverware for Christofle, as well as her own line of furniture and fragrance, Andree Putman is indisputably the grande dame of modern French design.
Known for her independent spirit and willingness to take risks, Putman showed the first signs of her bold design traits at the age of 16. In her own way of protest, the young Putman told her mother she no longer wanted any of the elaborate, bourgeois furniture in her bedroom in the family home in the sixth arrondissement of Paris, got rid of it all, and made do instead with a bed, a table, a lamp, a chair and nothing else.
'I have always cultivated the rebel spirit,' says Putman. 'I wanted to empty rooms. I avoid decoration for decoration's sake. I broke away from the dictates of 'good French taste' that's deeply ingrained in the family. To me, the ultimate luxury in design is the freedom of choice.'
By the age of 20, Putman convinced her mother to purchase pieces by Mies van de Rohe and Isamu Noguchi, and became increasingly obsessed with the idea of bringing quality art and design to the masses. So much so, Putman spent several years managing the style of the household division at Prisunic, a mass-market French department store.
'I've always worked with the idea of making beautiful things accessible to everyone,' says Putman, who adds that, 'design isn't separated into rich and poor - that is merely a design phenomenon from the late 19th century.'
And therein lies her genius. Putman favours simple, familiar and non-trendy spaces and objects. 'I aim to offer the ideal solution to everything used in a house,' she says. 'It can either be very inexpensive and clever, or very expensive and incredibly rare, and visually exceptional. I also love to see beauty in modest things, and I adore the contrast.'