Interview Pierre Roset

Foto: Pierre Roset

“The sun always comes out after the rain, doesn’t it?”

From artisan to international guarantor for innovative furniture design: in 2010, family enterprise Ligne Roset celebrated its 150th birthday and involved its fans in the celebrations with exhibitions, special offers and re-editions, including a limited reissue of Pierre Paulin’s Pumpkin armchair from 1971.

Frank A. Reinhardt was more than happy to travel to the company’s headquarters in Briord near Lyon for an interview with Pierre Roset, who together with his brother Michel is the fourth generation of the family to run the company. The roots of the furnishing and design brand Ligne Roset go back to a factory for walking sticks and sunshades. Antoine Roset founded the company in Montagnieu in1860, where the product range evolved from chair legs to chairs, then to wooden furniture and, in the second generation, upholstered and leather furniture. In the 1950s and 60s, the booming contract business enabled the company to expand considerably. The integration of design resulted in icons such as the Togo floor cushion and established the cult image of the Ligne Roset brand, which was launched in 1973. Besides seating and storage furniture, the product repertoire also includes accessories, lighting and home textiles. The company enjoys international standing for its award-winning, functional design and is renowned not only for its classics but for its promotion of young designers as well.

 

You’ve been coming to the imm cologne for decades. What is it that makes Cologne so special?
Cologne has been home to one of the most important furniture shows in the world for many years now. And if you look back ten or fifteen years, the imm cologne was actually even the first and biggest furniture fair in the world. But the most important thing is that the imm cologne has always been a fair for generating business and signing contracts. On top of that, the imm cologne is extremely open towards foreign exhibitors and producers – and thus also towards visitors from abroad too. Another, more pragmatic reason is that the imm cologne is the fair most frequented by the German and Austrian dealers. Right from the start, the focus of our export strategy has been on Germany, and therefore also on Cologne as a trade fair location. In that respect the only logical conclusion is that, if we want to keep improving and expanding our sales activities in Germany, we simply have to come to Cologne.

How important is it to you to collaborate with renowned designers? Has design established itself as an international consumer language?
Yes, very definitely, and it’s gaining more and more ground. As compared to the USA or Southeast Asia, Europe is still at the forefront when it comes to designers, even though there are of course also some very good designers in the USA. But as far as we are concerned, it isn’t the name of the designer that counts, but the quality of his innovations. My brother Michel doesn’t select the designers we work with on the basis of their celebrity or their name, but on the basis of the designs they present us with. It’s also very important that the technology and design harmonise well. That’s why our technicians work very closely with the designers. That’s also the reason we invite most of the designers to Briord for a few days, so that they can collaborate with Michel and the technicians from the prototype department.


In the Interview Pierre Roset talks about:

 

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