Michel Mortier
| Michel Mortier | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 1925 Paris, France |
| Died | 22 May 2015 |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Designer |
Michel Mortier (1925 – 22 May 2015) was a French furniture designer, interior designer and architect who was known for his modern designs.
Michel Mortier was born in Paris in 1925. He was admitted to the École des arts appliqués à l’industrie (School of Industrial Art), where he studied under René Gabriel and Louis Sognot. He joined the Studium-Louvre in 1944, the workshop for modern decorative art run by Etienne-Henri Martin for the Grands Magasins du Louvre department store. The workshop produced designs for the growing number of customers who wanted modern styles of decoration. Mortier's association with Martin led to work with the furniture department of the Bon Marché in Brussels. Mortier was discovered by Marcel Gascoin, a central figure in French post-war design who surrounded himself with young talent to produce furniture sets. In 1949 Gascoin founded ARHEC, Aménagement rationnel de l'habitation et des collectivités (Rational Improvement of Housing and Communities), to produce and distribute furniture sets. From 1949 to 1954 Michel Mortier was the first director of Arhec.
Mortier won the Gold Medal at the Milan Triennale in 1954. That year he formed an association called the Atelier de Recherche Plastique (ARP: Plastic Research Workshop) with Pierre Guariche and Joseph-André Motte, whom he had met in Gascoin's studio. The ARP had an exhibit at the Salon des arts ménagers in 1954, where Mortier showed a modular storage unit with an ingenious assembly system that was the origin for a range of products by Minvielle, a leading brand in the 1950s and 1960s. For about three years the ARP designed a wide range of furniture for the living room, parent's bedroom and child's bedroom for the manufacturer Charles Minvielle. The ARP partnership broke up in 1957.
Mortier became artistic director of the store La Maison Française 55, and designed many products for leading manufacturers including chairs for Steiner and lights for Disderot and Verre Lumière. In 1959 Mortier founded his own interior design agency, the Habitation esthétique industrielle mobilier. He moved to Canada where he was introduced to graphisme in Montreal and taught at JM Blier Furniture & Design. He also worked as a freelance journalist in his spare time. In 1963 he won the Prix René Gabriel, awarded annually to the designer of a furniture series that combined quality and economy. He participated in the Expo 67 in Montreal.
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