Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
While little is known about audacious modernist designers Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet, the French-Swiss husband-and-wife duo created playful and unique decorative objects, dining chairs, sconces and other furniture during the mid-20th century. Rejecting Art Deco lavishness and the concept that seating, tables and other furnishings should be made with luxurious and exotic materials, Minnet and Audoux adopted a rustic style in their work, integrating abaca hemp cord and other organic materials such as beech and bamboo in their provocative designs.
Audoux and Minnet were active in Côte d'Azur, France — they are believed to have established a workshop there in the late 1920s. The designers were members of the Union des Artistes Modernes, a collective of like-minded artists founded in 1929. The raison d'être of the Union was to design household furnishings and decorative pieces for a wider demographic of people, not merely affluent Parisians — a target kind of buyer for many creators of the day. They promoted simplicity and prioritized functionalism. The collective’s membership boasted other celebrated furniture designers, including Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Francis Jourdain and Louis Sognot.
Minnet and Audoux spent much of their time in the Provence region, a hub of creativity where other artists such as Pablo Picasso found endless inspiration. They created everything from lighting to lounge chairs and end tables that reflected a nautical theme and coastal living. Minnet and Audoux’s imaginative works — table lamps with shades covered in raffia, oak benches with seat backs of woven rope — were made available to passers-by in the duo’s retail outlet in the seaside resort town of Golfe-Juan. The pair also incorporated woven rope into larger pieces such as armchairs and side tables. These furnishings are often compared to the work of similarly adventurous Union des Artistes Modernes member Charlotte Perriand. Several of Audoux and Minnet’s seating pieces are on display at the Maison Dumas in St. Tropez, France.
Find vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet furniture on 1stDibs.
Mid-20th Century French Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Rope, Plywood
Early 20th Century French Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Metal
Early 20th Century American Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Sterling Silver
1970s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Rattan
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Metal
1950s French Art Deco Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Metal
1950s French Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Metal
1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Brass
1970s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Rope, Wood
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Rattan
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Metal
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Silver Plate
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Chrome
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Rope
Mid-20th Century French Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Rope, Plywood
1960s French Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Barware
Metal
