Serge Mouille "Cachan" Wall Sconce, France 1957

Original Serge Mouille "Cachan" wall sconce, France, 1957.

This lamp is an original from the 1950s and not one of the many later reproductions. The Cachan wall sconce comprises both an upper sphere, which casts an ambient glow, and a cone-shaped task light. One "eye" softly illuminates the ceiling while the cone-shaped reflector directs light to the floor. Large and graphic, the Cachan’s contorted black-painted metal forms, evoke the kinetic mobiles of Alexander Calder.

Originally, it was designed exclusively for the bedrooms of a housing unit for the Young Workers Housing Association in Cachan near Paris, and used only there. Mouille produced these lights for only a brief period and never marketed them, making them a rare model. As a result of its limited production, approximately only two hundred of this model exists from the 1950s.

Condition:
In good vintage condition. Wear consistent with age and use. The shade, stem and base have small marks and scratches. The white inside of the shade has a nice yellow-greyish patina.

Dimensions:
11.02 in W x 10.24 in D x 28 in H
28 cm W x 26 cm D x 28 cm H

Literature:
Pierre Émile Pralus, Serge Mouille: A French Classic, Saint Cyr au Mont d’Or, 2006, p. 181.

About the designer:
Born and raised in Paris, iconic lighting designer Serge Mouille (French, 1922-1988) is best known as an industrial designer and goldsmith. His lighting designs featuring minimalistic, functional designs are particularly acclaimed and sought after. Mouille began his career creating silverware, however, by the early 1950s he had shifted his focus to light fixtures. He saw his own practice as a corrective to the “too complicated” Italian models that by that point were all but flooding the market. Following his studies in metallurgy and silversmithing at the École des Arts Appliqués, Mouille began designing light fixtures in 1953 and soon, in 1955, he was inducted into the Société des Artistes Décorateurs ("the Interior Decorators' Society"). When Steph Simon opened a design gallery in Paris in 1956, he soon began exhibiting Mouille’s works alongside those of designers such as Jean Prouve. Mouille definitively stopped producing light fixtures in 1961. ~ H.