ave you seen those elegant black or white insect-like light fixtures by Serge Mouille? I got intrigued after seeing them appear in numerous interior blogs and did some research. These lamps, which are the epitome of mid-century lighting design, were first launched in Paris in 1953. Serge Mouille’s lighting collection fast became the lighting choice for collectors and avant-garde architects worldwide.
Each considered a piece of art, the Serge Mouille lights have never gone into large production, each piece is still made completely by hand with the original tools designed by Mouille himself – Absolute Perfection!!
Known primarily for his work as a designer of lighting fixtures, Serge Mouille (1922-1988) received a master silversmith diploma from the School of Applied Arts in Paris. He studied with silversmith and sculptor Gilbert LaCroix and, after graduation in 1941, went to work in his studio.
In 1945 Mouille opened his own metal working studio with the intention of creating silverware utensils. At that point, however, his design commissions were mostly for hand rails, chandeliers and wall sconces. In 1953 Jacques Adnet hired him to design lighting fixtures, an art to which he devoted the rest of his life.
Serge Mouille remains famous primarily for his minimalistic designs and use of uniformly black painted metal materials. His wall-mounted spot light fixture with articulated arms (the “Spider”) is typical for his discrete, yet highly functional designs.
The wall-mounted “Spider”, designed around 1953, via Pinterest
The Mouille wall-mounted Spider: this sconce can project light into a room at varying angles due to the independent rotation of each arm and each shade.
Mouille’s “Spider” lamp, designed in 1953 via Elements of Style
The Mouille ceiling-mounted Spider: Simple and elegant, this ceiling lamp makes a dramatic addition to a variety of room settings.
Throughout the 1950s Mouille designed those large, angular, insect-like wall mounted and standing lamps with several arms and smaller, more curved wall-sconces. Some of his best known designs from the period are his “Oeil” lamp (1953), “Flammes” (1954) and “Saturn” (1958). Mouille made each of his lamps by hand and never used machine technology to maximize production numbers. He worked to achieve a kinetic, sculptural aesthetic that evoked a sense of movement in space. A Serge Mouille lamp is as much a work of art as it is a source of illumination.
Eye wall sconces by Serge Mouille via Pinterest
The Mouille “œil” or Eye Sconce is named for the shape of the shade. Designed by Mouille in 1953.
The Mouille Flame: An elegant twist of metal results in a lamp that illuminates upwards while creating playful shadows through the elongated metal with tapered ending.
The Mouille Saturn lamp: a partial cut allows the outer edge to bend revealing a sculpted ring encircling a central cone reflector to both diffuse and project light into the room.
Towards the end of the 1950s the invention of neon tubes inspired Mouille to create a series of floor lamps that combined incandescence and fluorescence. These designs, called the “Colonnes” collection, had their debut at the 1962 Salon for interior design.
The Mouille Totem floor lamp, 1962. I am not such a fan of this design, are you?
The Mouille Totem floor lamp, 1962
The Mouille Signal floor lamp, 1963
Mouille suffered from tuberculosis for many years, and in 1959 he was forced to suspend his design activities and undergo treatment. Production of his light fixtures stopped definitively in 1961. In the 1980’s, due to a renewed interest in the rarity of Mouille’s lighting, his spouse Gin Mouille decided to introduce a new edition originally designed in the early 1950’s. The original precision craftsmanship is applied to this edition to maintain the integrity of the early work. Each shade is produced with the use of original moulds, proportions, materials and techniques. Each piece is stamped and numbered. Only 1000 pieces are produced each year and are exported all over the world, which make them not only objects of beauty but collector items as well.
Here’s a little overview of Mouille’s light fixtures still in action today, I’m interested to hear what you think of them.
Bedlight wallsconce by Serge Mouille via Cabbage Rose
Desklamp by Serge Mouille
The white spider
Mouille wall lights on the left, via Blood & Champagne
via Desire to Inspire
via Desire to Inspire
Mouille single floorlamp via Notes on Design
via Pinterest
via Roger Lum
via Rachel C.
via Viva Full House
On of Mouille’s desklamps: An elegant triangular base supporting a slender, straight arm and cylindrical shade allows this deceivingly simple lamp
Another desklamp by Mouille: the shade of this lamp is modeled after a “moule” or mussel shell. The arm is connected by a brass swivel and supported by an unusual tripod base
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Hi Dernie, thanks so much for your very kind compliment! Hope you enjoy the whole Design Icons series, I certainly enjoy researching and writing it. In fact, I am about to post a new post on Design Icon Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Would love to hear what you think of it.
Best regards,
Mac
wow, I was keep seeing these lightings in design photos and notice them with interest every time! And I think I was one step behind from wanting to learn about them until I bumped into this post! Thank you! I love the spider lighting but now I see there are a lot more about them 🙂
They are great, aren’t they? I love them too and use them all the time in my visualisations. I’m glad this post provided you with some more insight en info. You can read lots more about other Design Icons in my blog, enjoy!
These design are great,we are a professional online in Serge Mouille Lighting,I’m very pleased to know whom like this design,you can find more information about our website: http://www.zoralighting.com
Great post Mac!
Here is the website where you will find the entire collection of Serge Mouille lamps: http://www.SergeMouilleUSA.com. We represent the only official re-edition of the lamp made in France. There are a lot of copies out there so if you want the real one make sure you contact us……email me if you have any questions: am@gueridon.com!
Thank you, merci
Alexia
PR Serge Mouille USA
Hi Alexia, thanx for your comment. I hope my post will drive some customers your way. I could be one of them, as i love love love the Mouille designs 🙂
I bought one of The French re-editions and was very disappointed to find that it lacked the hand made quality of the originals 1950’s lights along with many of the small but important details .No grub screw on the joint , shades are not hand deformed, plastic not brass lamp holders, incorrect screw and wiring etc.
Decided to make my own version. 2 years on I can hand make and finish highly detailed replica of the rotating wall sconces that are almost indistinguishable from these early lights and a quarter the re-edition price. Pic’s at gmwprojects.com
Hi Greg, I just took a look at your website. You did an amazing job, your Serge Mouille’s look just great, with so much love put into the smallest details, congratulations. Although I should probably say here that we all should honor the original, unfortunately we don’t all have the budget for that. Thankx for making great design available to all of us.
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