Emile Jacques Ruhlmann, art deco designer.

Though the French art deco designer Emile Jacques Ruhlmann (1) (Fig. 2) is today best known for his luxurious, costly, and frequently extravagant furniture, he was in fact, a full-fledged interior designer--an ensemblier who was both able and willing to provide all aspects of a decor from the architectural framework to the upholstery textiles. (2) Indeed, to fully understand his furniture it must be considered within the context of completed interiors in which every element played a specific and carefully thought-out functional or decorative role. Regretfully, however, few of Ruhlmann's interiors remain today. Nonetheless, it is possible to get a sense of the sensual richness, exquisite preciousness, and almost perverse sophistication of these environments from the large number of archival drawings and photographs that survive. (3)

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Ruhlmann was raised to inherit a household contracting business in Paris founded by his mother's family in 1827. After Ruhlmann's parents were married in 1873, his father, Francois Ruhlmann (1847-1907), gained control of the business and eponymously renamed it. The company provided services such as painting, plastering, wallpapering, and the making of mirror glass--standard aspects of the building trade. On his father's death in 1907, Ruhlmann took over the family business and set about renaming it again and reinventing its mission, ultimately turning it into one of the most renowned design enterprises of its day.

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After forming a partnership with Pierre Laurent in 1919, Ruhlmann eventually added design studios, workshops, and showrooms (as well as the necessary business offices) to their premises (Fig. 1), while employing upwards of fifty designers, craftsmen, and administrative staff. Etablissements Ruhlmann et Laurent was thus able to produce a large portion of their work in-house; what they were not able to accomplish themselves, such as the weaving of carpets and textiles or the manufacture of porcelain and glass, they contracted out to established makers such as Prelle et Compagnie of Lyon and the Sevres porcelain manufactory. With an operation of this size, Ruhlmann himself eventually began to function as something of an artistic director, if not actually designing then supervising, overseeing, and approving every aspect down to the smallest detail. The business remained in operation until shortly after Ruhlmann's death in 1933.

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