Bear Necessities
Jean Royère
“I’d always had a thing about interior design. So much so that as a child I didn’t want toys: I asked to be allowed to decorate a room in the attic in our country house. So my first project dated from when I was twelve or thirteen, maybe even earlier. But let’s be serious. In Le Havre I had a certain amount of time on my hands, and I used it on projects for my friends – my first victims! The results would probably look pretty comical now, but they helped me get myself sorted out and learn the basics of the metier.” — Jean Royère
In recent decades, it seems there has always been a global catastrophe looming, both economically speaking, with an increasingly hyper-partisan politics and now, in the midst of a pandemic. In an increasingly uncertain world, people are investing in their homes as a means of escape and tactile, enveloping furniture is proving an ever more popular choice. Interiors trend-watcher Michelle Ogundehin noted in 2019 that “in this acutely digital age, as physical, sensory beings we have a primal need to surround ourselves with surfaces that thrill our fingertips or tempt our toes.” For the design cognoscenti, the ultimate example has to be the enveloping Ours Polaire (or “polar bear”) sofa (sometimes given the name Boule (Ball)) conceived by decorator and ensemblier Jean Royère (1902-1981) in the late 1940s. One of his most recognizable designs, its rotundity and volume bring to mind an enfolding refuge, or rather an elegant cocoon. A self-taught craftsman, Royère exhibited a theatrical flair throughout his influential career, creating a body of work that bridged the gap between the pre-war elegance of French decorators like Jean-Michel Frank (1895-1941) and André Arbus (1903-1969) and the more flamboyant post-war modernity. Royère’s approach was unique, and his plump upholstered pieces made him a visual precursor to the sinuous forms of Pierre Paulin in the ‘60s.
“The Ours Polaire furnishings are an alcove, a nest,” says Emiliano Salci, one half of the Milan-based interiors duo Dimore Studio. “They even transmit visual comfort to a room. They are timeless.” Highly sought after, Christian Louboutin, Emmanuel De Bayser and Larry Gagosian have acquired pieces, as has Kanye West, who tweeted: “Royère doesn’t make a Polar bear bed but the Polar bear couch is my favourite piece of furniture we own.” This is not, however, a sudden speculation; since the early nineties there has been a slow rediscovery of mid twentieth century design. Le Corbusier (1887-1965), Jean Prouvé (1901-1984), Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999), Pierre Jeanneret (1896-1967) and Royère managed to set a unique vocabulary and are now recognized and having their rightful place in the annals of art history. Considering the increasing iconification of furniture pieces, especially the works of Prouvé and Royère, it’s hardly surprising that prices are on the up and up. According to a recent report, the global luxury furniture market was valued at around US$ 25 Billion in 2018, and with a predicted annual growth of 3.8% over the next five years, it’s expected to reach a value of US$ 31 Billion by 2024. Works representing the very best in quality across every market — whether pre-war, post-war, or contemporary design — always resonate with advanced collectors.
“Ours Polaire” sofa, fabric, oak (c. 1950) by Jean Royère, a designer often perceived as outside of the modernist trajectory ascribed to twentieth-century design; Image c/o Phillips
Jean Royère’s showroom in Beirut, Libanon, late 1940s, featuring Ours Polaire sofa and lounge chairs; Image from the book Jean Royère by Jacques Lacoste and Patrick Seguin
In line with the biomorphic style prevalent in French post-war design, the Ours Polaire forms one continuous curve, practically eliminating the typical parts and structure of most seating. While other designers worked with new materials and techniques to achieve their organic forms (Eero Saarinen’s fiberglass Womb chair (1948) or Charles and Ray Eames’ use of moulded plywood for e.g.), Royère relied on traditional artisanal wood-bending techniques. Photographs of an Ours Polaire frame, likely taken in the courtyard of an artisan in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine district, reveal a wooden interior skeleton similar to those used in Louis XVI sofas. To this carcass, a metal frame padded with horsehair further defined the form, which was finally covered by the fabric upholstery, typically a plush velvet sourced from Italy. An entirely self-taught designer, Royère did not follow a formal style, instead his designs were wholly unique; drawing inspiration from nature and reinterpreting it with avant-garde experimentations of line, volumes and colour. “Only the large circular feet underneath are visible,” notes Paris dealer Patrick Seguin, who, with Jacques Lacoste, has published two volumes on Royère. “The Ours Polaire pieces are emblematic of Royère’s spirit of absolutely free creativity and reflect a true elegance without any kind of ostentation.”
The home of Jean Royère, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris (1947); Image from the book Jean Royère by Jacques Lacoste and Patrick Seguin
It all began in 1947 when Royère, who resigned a lucrative position in the import-export trade to become a decorator, was renovating his mother’s apartment at 234 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. For that project he created some of his first biomorphic designs, including the Boule sofa (this example now resides in the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris), upholstered in a deliciously plush, white, fuzzy velvet that would later inspire the design’s charming nickname. Most of Royère’s animal titles were applied to engaging or empathy-inspiring pieces and the Ours Polaire is no exception, exemplifying Royère’s talent for designs that whilst visually intriguing are comfortable and functional in the domestic sphere. Its unusual shape sent shock waves through le tout Paris when later that year he presented a dark red version at the La Résidence Française exhibition organized by Art et Industrie magazine. “The model attracted a limited clientele initially,” Seguin says. “However, its innovative design enjoyed success during the 1950s, when free-form designs and Royère’s soft, round lines triumphed.”
While it can be said of Prouvé that his constructional principle imposed form as part of a rationalizing quest, Royère’s stance was the direct opposite. The Ours Polaire demonstrates the designer’s unfailing sense of proportion; which was not only a matter of ergonomics or use, but a careful consideration of the object and its interaction with its surroundings. When looking at Royère’s overall decorative schemes, one cannot help but notice that the overall harmony is largely a result of the careful balance between proportion and volume. Now recognized as one of Royère’s most iconic and sought-after designs, after an initially uncertain reception orders flew in. Two chair versions of the Ours Polaire sofa were notably commissioned by the Legation de France, Helsinki (depicted in a beautifully rendered gouache in the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (1950)), as well as for the salon at the Maison de France in Rio de Janeiro (1955-1960). The sofa was ubiquitous in Royère’s interiors of the late 1950s and early 1960s and despite the proclivity for white, red was designer’s colour of choice.
From the late 1940s through the 1950s Royère’s profile grew internationally, particularly in the Middle East, where he opened agencies and branches in Cairo (1946), Beirut (1947), and Tehran (1958) before expanding to Lima (1955) and São Paulo (1957), calling it a “great excuse for travelling”. This period saw him develop some of his most famous designs: the Œuf (Egg) and Eléphanteau (Baby Elephant) chairs, the Puddle and Sphere tables, and various iterations of the Persian and Vine lights. Sophisticated yet whimsical, his creations, which often reference the natural world, exude refinement without ever veering into preciousness. Royère’s characteristic was his curiosity and, throughout his career, he sought out new markets across the world. As he recounted in 1963, “What you have to remember is that in these new and developing countries, cooperation between architect and decorator is facilitated by the fact that, unlike in France, people don’t spend their time patching up and modernizing old buildings.”
Living room, the Maurel apartment, Paris (1962) by Jean Royère: Image from the book Jean Royère by Jacques Lacoste and Patrick Seguin
Seguin, estimates that between 1947 and 1967 there were only around 150 polar-bear pieces ever made. (Unlike other iconic mid-century styles, there has never been an authorized re-edition.) Their rarity is reflected in their price tags; at Philips New York in 2016 an Ours Polaire sofa sold for a record-breaking $754,000 and at Christie’s France in 2017 a pair of Ours Polaire armchairs — upholstered in a thick mustard plush — sold for just under $1 million. “It has become very difficult to source a set from the original owners, and collectors who already possess these pieces very rarely sell them,” says Seguin, who sold a set a few years ago that he says would be worth $1.2 million today. Royère died in 1981, having stopped designing a decade earlier. He left the bulk of his archives to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, whose 1999 exhibition Jean Royère, décorateur à Paris coincided with surging collector interest in mid-century French designers. Royère prices took a notable upward turn a decade ago, says Florent Jeanniard, the European head of design for Sotheby’s, which set an auction record for Royère in May 2018, when a star-dappled Étoile sideboard (commissioned in 1958 for the prominent Dumont family) fetched a staggering $1.8 million, six times its high estimate. “The demand is really global, with collectors now coming from Asia as well as the US and Europe,” Jeanniard says. “Royère’s furniture has a combination of seriousness and joy that appeals to today’s taste.”
One of the most innovative decorators of the 20th century, Royère’s furniture designs, distinguished by their originality and audacity, serve as a source of inspiration and admiration to this day. Compared to the more sober, refined aesthetic of his contemporary Marc du Plantier (1901-1975), the exuberance of Royère’s designs might sometimes veer close to kitsch; but his eccentricity and spiritually fanciful invention are utterly irresistible. A plump, curved form swathed in velvet, the voluptuous rotundity of the Ours Polaire is quintessential Royère; sculptural, elegant and playful. The allure is simple to define, says French designer François Catroux, who, having first seen the piece in the South of France in the 1960s, rediscovered it again fifteen years ago, when they returned to the market: “They’re unusual, they’re beautiful, they’re rare, and everyone looks so elegant and relaxed sitting on them.”