 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
  |
 |
Olivier Raidt,
great-nephew of Jean Perzel.
 |
| The most prestigious of collected lamps from the 1930s |
| Jean Perzel was the first designer of
distinctly modern lighting and the first to concern himself particularly
with electricity - it's nature, potential, intensity, methods of use
(semi direct or indirect lighting) - and to design logical, rational
and harmonious fittings; he was the first to exploit the potential
design of glass while using it to diffuse light. Since 1930 Perzel concentrates on studying the laws of optics and their practical consequences: changing the appearance of objects and faces using the intensity and colour of light - amber, light pink or champagne; he attaches a particular importance to the soothing or unpleasant effects on the eye of these different types of light, which's were generally used without principle or restraint. Jean Perzel was courageously innovative and the solutions he came up with, so simple in appearance but based on a scientific logic, have been acclaimed and adopted everywhere. |
 Luminous world map, 1937 |
|
Jean Perzel and his nephew, |
In 1933, Jean Perzel called upon his
nephew François to learn his trade. He instilled the ingineering
strictness of the models, combined with the creativity and simplicity
of the shapes so that none of the pieces ever seem to be outdated
and that the pure style of the Perzel creations keep timeless and
a synonym for modern appearance. Thanks to Jean Perzel, François Raidt learns the art of glassmaking and later he takes some architecture night courses. He is gifted and a perfectionist so he quickly assists Jean Perzel in designing, finishing and technically simplifies the assembling. In 1937, in order to celebrate the 25,000,000th car being manufactured by his company, Henry Ford commissioned the Jean Perzel workshops to send him a series of decorative objects in under 36 hours. They were to be made from mechanical elements, extracts taken from the catalog of parts for his brand. Without his uncle, François Raidt at the tender age of eighteen, submitted twenty-one proposals all of which were bought by the Ford Motor Company. Jean Perzel handed over the management of his workshops to him in 1951. Trained by his father François Raidt, Olivier Raidt had managed the company since 1994. |
|
|
|
For further information, or to order our
catalogue, |
|
