Marc Held (b.1932), French Designer & Architect

Marc Held is both an architect and a designer. His creations have included Limoges dinnerware, ski gear, automobiles, and homes, in addition to industrial buildings, automobiles, and teaspoons. Despite having long had a Paris studio, his designs were seen and purchased worldwide. Many of his pieces are on display in contemporary art museums, and some rare and difficult-to-find ones are included in significant public auctions.

Marc Held focuses primarily on the interaction between traditional and modern architecture today. He carefully chooses commissions that allow him to combine theory and practise while designing and building homes complete with their landscaping and furnishings in the tradition of the greatest architects of the 20th century, including Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Alvar Alto, and Arne Jacobsen. Greece, Marc Held’s second home for more than ten years, is where he now primarily resides. (:: MARC HELD :: Architect & Designer, n.d.) 

Education

He studied kinesiology and dramatic arts.

Biography

Held was a professor of physical education. In 1960, he founded and became the director of Archiform, a centre for research in industrial, interior, and architectural design where designers, architects, and former pupils of the Ecole Boulle, Paris, pursued their work. In 1965, he founded the publication Echoppe. Hôtel Les Dromonts, Avoriaz, was one of the jobs he worked on between 1966 and 1968. He also designed three chairs for Knoll, including the well-known Culbuto chair from 1967, produced in 1970. He created many private apartment interiors up until 1966; in 1969, he created plastic-moulded furniture for the homes of architect Georges Candilis; and in 1973, he created a dinner service made of Limoges porcelain by Coquet. In 1971, Held started working as an independent architect for clients like IBS and designed the interior of the 1987 ocean liner Wind Star. These pieces of plastic furniture were sold in Held’s own store, L’Echoppe, and were made by Créateurs et Industrielles (distributed by Prisunic). For François Mitterrand, Archiform created the interior of the Lintas advertising agency, the Oceanliner Mermoz, and the Grand Drawing Room of the Elysée Palace.

Exhibitions

Participated in the 1968 (XIV) Triennale di Milano. Work (moulded-plastic furniture) shown in the architecture section: French Pavilion, 1970 (III) Eurodomus, Palazzo dell’Arte, Milan; 1990 Design français: 1960–1990: Trois décennies exhibition, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Designed for the 1969 Construction et Humanisme exhibition in Cannes.

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

MARC HELD  Architect & Designer. (n.d.). MARC HELD  architect & designer. Retrieved March 26, 2023

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