Raymond Subes (1893 – 1970), French metalsmith

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Raymond Subes French Apartment Gate

Raymond Subes (1893–1970) was a French metalsmith.

Education

He studied at the École Boulle and the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. He was apprenticed to wrought iron designer Émile Robert.

Biography

From 1916, he worked in Enghien-les-Bains at a small shop run by Emile Robert. In 1919, he started working for Robert’s metal contracting company, Borderel et Robert, at 131 rue Damrémont in Paris. He became head of the design department and the wrought iron workshop.

He worked with several architects and quickly became one of the best metalwork designers and makers. In the 1920s, he worked a lot with wrought iron, making things like the cathedral’s pulpit in Rouen, the grilles of the choir entry at the church of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, and the telescoping lights on the Carousel bridge in Paris.

He also worked with sculptor R. Martin on the monument to General Leclerc at Porte d’Orléans, and with architect Laprade on the tomb of Marshal Lyautey. In the 1930s, he made furniture out of chrome-plated tubular metal for Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann’s nephew and architect Alfred Porteneuve. In 1931, he made a grille for the Permanent Colonial Museum.

He also made a lot of ironwork for the Oceanliners 1931 Atlantique, 1926 Ile-de-France, Pasteur, and 1935 Normandie. He also made ironwork for the Banque de France and National City Bank, both on the avenue des Champs-Elysées, and for the Institut Pasteur, Caisse des Dépots et Consignations, Musée de la France d’Outre.

He mostly used patinated, chromed, or gilded wrought iron, polished steel, bronze, and repoussé copper in his work. He used alabaster, Levantine marble, frosted glass, and embroidered silk shades, which Mme. Luhuché-Meéry made for him in the early 1920s. After World War II, he worked as a metalworker and became the head of Borderel et Robert.

Style

Subes work was more austere than his contemporaries. He used welding but preferred to leave on his metal the impress of the hammer. He was frequently employed to materialize the conceptions of others, but generally, the architects who patronized him did so because they liked his solidity of expression. Subes represented straight lines and geometrical simplicity.

Recognition

In 1919, he had his first show. Together with Ruhlmann, he made a lacquered metal bookcase and console for the “Hotel du collectionneur” at the “Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes” in Paris in 1925. At the 1937 Paris “Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne,” he made the fountains for the Radio pavillion and a Madonna and Child for the Papal pavillion, as well as many screens, consoles, and grilles for other sections. In 1958, he became a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Sources

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

Paris, F. (1929). The Rejuvenesence of Wrought iron. The Architectural Forum, 50(2), 241–248.

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  • Michel Dufet (1888 – 1985) French interior designer & writer

    Michel Dufet (1888 – 1985) French interior designer & writer

    He attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris to study painting and architecture. In 1913, he founded the MAM (Mobilier Artistique Moderne) decorating workshop at 3 Avenue de l’Opéra in Paris, producing modern furniture, wallpaper, fabrics, and lighting.Read More →


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  • Ruby Ross Wood (1881 – 1950) American Interior Designer

    Ruby Ross Wood (1881 – 1950) American Interior Designer

    Wood settled in New York and began writing an agricultural journal. She started working as a freelance writer and worked as a ghostwriter for interior designer Elsie de Wolfe. Read More →


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  • Georges Lepape (1887 – 1971) French painter & illustrator

    Georges Lepape (1887 – 1971) French painter & illustrator

    Lepape’s work blends orientalist elements with flowing lines, vibrant colours, and graphic stylizations reminiscent of Alphonse Mucha, Erté, Gustav Klimt, and Henri de Toulouse-Art Lautrec’s Nouveau movement. Read More →


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  • End of WWII a revolution in furniture design

    End of WWII a revolution in furniture design

    End of WWII a revolution in furniture design. Womb and shell chairs, biomorphic tables, cat’s cradle pedestals, and architectural shapes are reminiscent of the Second World War’s fertile furniture design era.Read More →


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  • Peter Raacke (b.1928) German metalworker and designer

    Peter Raacke (b.1928) German metalworker and designer

    Hessische Metallwerke commissioned Raacke to produce metal cutlery, kitchen equipment, and cookware, most notably his “Mono-a” line (v-33), with silverware available in stainless steel and sterling silver.Read More →


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  • Mid-Century Modernism – Fresh Optimism in Design

    Mid-Century Modernism – Fresh Optimism in Design

    Designers were motivated by a fresh optimism after WWII and the new materials, production techniques, and colours arriving in unique shapes. In more inexpensive and easily mass-produced designs, a more relaxed, fleshed-out style of Modernism began to develop.Read More →


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  • Matali Crasset – French Product Designer

    Matali Crasset – French Product Designer

    Matali Crasset – French Product Designer. Crasset’s childhood on a farm undoubtedly influenced her distinct design style. Read More… Read More →


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  • Joseph-André Motte (1925 – 2013) French Furniture & Interior Designer

    Joseph-André Motte (1925 – 2013) French Furniture & Interior Designer

    Joseph-André Motte ranks as the most influential and innovative figures of post-war French design. Two careers Furniture & Interior Designer.Read More →


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  • Albert Paley (b.1944) American modernist metal sculptor

    Albert Paley (b.1944) American modernist metal sculptor

    Albert Paley (born 1944) is an American modernist metal sculptor. Starting as a jeweller, he has evolved into one of the world’s most renowned and famous metalsmiths. Furniture, gates, railings, and staircases are among his creations. He consults with architects and space planners, and he leads a team of craftspeople in his Rochester, New York,…


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  • French Decor Kindle Edition Books

    French Decor Kindle Edition Books

    The French decor is back in style, and it’s the ideal style for your home. This style of décor has something unique about it, and while it can seem to be carefree, it adheres to an ideology that finds beauty in flaws. If you want to emulate the magnificent French countryside style in your home,…


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  • Werkstätten Hagenauer Austrian metalsmiths

    Werkstätten Hagenauer Austrian metalsmiths

    Werkstätten Hagenauer were Vienna-based Austrian metalsmiths. Over its nearly ninety-year history, it was a family business in Vienna that produced fine, handcrafted objects for decoration and use. The workshop closed in 1987, but the company’s retail premises on Vienna’s Opernring, which opened in 1938, is still open today as a museum and shop.Read More →


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  • Louis Majorelle (1859 – 1926) French Designer and cabinetmaker

    Louis Majorelle (1859 – 1926) French Designer and cabinetmaker

    Majorelle took over the family cabinetmaking and ceramics business in Nancy in 1879. In the late 1880s, he began designing Modern furniture. Working in the Art Nouveau style, Majorelle was the most dynamic practitioner of the School of Nancy. By mechanising his factory, he produced significant quantities of highly decorated commercial furniture and more elaborate…


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  • Armand Point (1861-1932), French Algerian painter, and designer

    Armand Point (1861-1932), French Algerian painter, and designer

    Armand Point (1861-1932) was a Symbolist painter, engraver, and designer from France, one of the Salon de la Rose + Croix founding members. Point’s first paintings were orientalist scenes of markets and musicians and scenes from his childhood in Algeria’s streets. In 1888, he moved to Paris to study under Auguste Herst and Fernand Cormon…


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  • Mauboussin – French Jewellry – Design Profile

    Mauboussin – French Jewellry – Design Profile

    Maubossin is a jewellery company in France. The original company was established in 1827 in Paris, on Rue Grenata, where it manufactured jewellery. Starting in 1903, M.B. Noury was the owner and nephew of Georges Maubossin, who had been the director of the company since 1877. Mauboussin succeeded Noury in 1923, changing the firm’s name…


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  • Odilon Redon’s Classic paintings Capture Logic of Invisible

    Odilon Redon’s Classic paintings Capture Logic of Invisible

    Odilon Redon, the artist who at the age 73 outsold all but Marcel Duchamp at the 1913 Armory Show of “Modern French Art” in New York City.Read More →


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  • Hervé Van der Straeten – French Designer revives craftsmanship of the past

    Hervé Van der Straeten – French Designer revives craftsmanship of the past

    The French design world was excited by artists back in the 1930s and 1940s who created modern objects that combinedRead More →


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  • 6 Diverse European Designers from last century

    6 Diverse European Designers from last century

    A diverse, eclectic and interesting selection of designers; architects, ceramicists, metal smith, interior designer. For inspiration and information;Read More →


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  • Lucien Rollin designed bedroom at World Fair NY 1939

    Lucien Rollin designed bedroom at World Fair NY 1939

    Lucien Rollin was a French Designer. He designed a bedroom in the French pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. He was active in the Salons of the Société des Artistes Décorateurs – 1928-1937.Read More →


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  • French Street Artist Turns Boring CIty Walls into Hyper-Realistic Scenes

    French Street Artist Turns Boring CIty Walls into Hyper-Realistic Scenes

    French artist Patrick Commecy is based in Eyzin-Pinet, France, but travels all over the country to paint walls. Using theRead More →


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