Louis Durot

LOUIS DUROT (Paris, 1939).
"Spiral Chair, ca. 1970s.
Sculptural chair, iconic design.
Polyurethane, glossy red lacquer.
Attached certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.
Measurements: 70 x 80 x 80 cm.

Among Louis Durot's most iconic and radical pieces is the "Spiral Chair", a revolutionary design that has appeared in the world's most prestigious art and design magazines. Furniture and sculpture at the same time, we can say that it is a functional sculpture that embodies the experimental spirit of French design in the 1970s. It embodies the characteristics of his audacious vision: fluidity, movement and innovation, mixing artistic freedom with experimentation with materials. Made of red lacquered polyurethane, this piece stands out for its hypnotic form and sculptural character, a reflection of the artist's scientific training and surrealist outlook. Trained in chemical engineering, Durot discovered expanded polyurethane as the perfect medium to bring his ideas to life. His mastery of this material allowed him to experiment with fluids and unconventional forms, pushing the boundaries of what furniture could be. This chair, along with his erotically inspired seating and sculptural tables, have positioned him as a key figure in Pop Art applied to furniture design. His work is not only admired for its aesthetics, but also for its ability to provoke, inspire and redefine the relationship between art and design.

Louis Durot is an undisputed reference in contemporary design. A pioneer, innovator and eternal nonconformist, for more than five decades he has been redefining the boundaries of furniture design, transforming it into a form of artistic expression in which functionality and sculpture converge. His radical approach challenges conventional aesthetics and results in visually stunning and conceptually innovative designs. Throughout his career, Louis Durot has exhibited in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, and has enjoyed great success in China, where his work has been the subject of major exhibitions.

In 1964, Louis Durot founded the Freelane Studio with the aim of bringing together artists from different disciplines who shared the same artistic aspirations. It was through them that Louis Durot met the painter François Arnal, who introduced him to the French sculptor César Baldaccini, known as César, in 1966. Louis Durot became César's assistant for a year, putting into practice his knowledge as a chemical engineer. In César's studio, he perfected his knowledge of polyurethane foam and the artist's foam creations, his expansions. Through César, Louis Durot met Pierre Restany - founder and guide of the Nouveaux Réalistes group founded in 1960 - as well as Arman and Robert Malaval. Durot designed his first works in 1968. Vintage sketches reveal a phantasmagoric world of mushrooms and carnivorous plants. This new activity required space, so he set up his studio at 35 rue Léon, in the 18th arrondissement of Paris.

Eager to find a way to create definitive objects in a more flexible, colorful, resistant and inalterable material, Louis Durot continued his research by creating the polyurethane chemical company Durgalith in 1972, which he sold to the company SOPREMA in 1997. Louis Durot continues to lead polyurethane research at Soprema and is responsible for the filing of hundreds of patents[1]. Louis Durot is also a polyurethane engineer at Shinjuker in Beijing.

Louis Durot's work is linked to the aesthetics of pop art: shapes that suggest something other than their function and appearance of a single material, with no trace of assembly, colored and inspired by the world of comics. From 1998, Louis Durot exhibited regularly in China. In 2002, an exhibition was dedicated to him at the Guangdong Art Museum in Guangzhou ("Dream toys in the world of adults"). This success allowed Louis Durot to be hired as a professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Public collections: Weil am Rhein, Vitra Design Museum (Germany); Guangzhou, Guangdong Museum of Art (China), Atlanta, High Museum of Art (USA), Paris, Musée des Arts décoratifs (France).