Lucien Rollin could acknowledge with pride that in 1919 when he entered the Boulle School at the age of thirteen, he was one of the youngest students of that famous institution, whose director was André Fréchet, an educator with traditional teaching methods. Students trained at Boulle, where the emphasis was on techniques and the knowledge of styles, had access to the most prestigious ateliers of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Immediately after graduating in 1923, Rollin was hired by Jacques-Emile Ruhlman as a draftsman and contributed to the preparation of the Hotel du Collectionneur at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts.

Having made such a brilliant start, Rollin decided at age 19 to enroll in the Ecole des Beaux Arts in the pursuit of more knowledge, and at the same time to work under architect Michel Roux-Spitz where he could encounter the most recent technical problems. This two-fold training experience enabled him in 1928 to go out on his own as architect-decorator on the Rue des Perchamps, in a workshop-studio which was also his showroom.

While his masters were French, Rollin’s model was Frank Lloyd Wright, whose creative freedom and inventive use of wood he found fascinating. Witnessing on one hand the modernist designs of those who favoured steel tubing and glass and, on the other hand, the Faubourg reproductions. Rollin became convinced that a renewal of traditional cabinetmaking techniques could open the way to a new style which would be more generally accessible. In 1932 he visited Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesen, and the discovery of modern cabinet making techniques in the United States further convinced him to renew Ruhlman’s heritage.

Rollin’s early contributions to the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts were wise ones. He remained partial to the use of rare woods such as Macassar Ebony, the burr of Amboina wood, Brasilian Rosewood and Palisander but, as witnessed by the sideboard which he made of Cuban Mahogany in 1932, the richly grained veneers made it possible to keep ornamentation to a minimum. The only fanciful touch is provided by a pedestal table and a console table “calligraphed” by his friend Gilbert Poillerat. Sent in 1933 by the French Government to study the evolution of decorative arts and design in the United States, Rollin accepted an offer from W. & J. Sloane to show a modern apartment in their 5th Avenue galleries. Carte blanche, an unlimited budget and the most modern machine tools were put at his disposal.

A monumental table with tapered legs for the Aubusson City Hall, now offered as the LR-1 Aubusson Dining Table, is a reminder of Rollin’s work as an architect. The Elysée furniture series is part of a set of office furniture commissioned by the Mobilier National for the Elysée Palace, in which one can see the permutations that are properly “post-modern”. The living room furniture which he completed in 1946 for General Delattre De Tassigny's office in the Hotel des Invalides is a good example of this post-modern design and is still in service today. The contribution of Gilbert Poillerat, a friend and colleague from the outset of Rollin’s career, adds a somewhat unexpected and luxurious look to these pieces.

Judging from various subtle ways in which he played with classic canons, it was inevitable that in 1946 Rollin should find himself in the company of Jacques Adnet, Andre Arbus, Pierre Barbe and Jean-Charles Moreux, taking part in the exhibition Présence d’un Style at the Cristofle Gallery, a collective tribute to the Louis XVI style whose “lesson” Arbus and Moreux were then celebrating. We find the same people the following year at the exhibition entitled La Résidence Francaise, which was organized by Art et Industrie at the Pierre Maus Gallery, still with this same idea of returning to an essentially French style. However, Rollin’s new commitment was of short duration: results seen of his work convinced him that only by means of officially commissioned pieces could there be support for the quality he required. Thus he decided to cease creating furniture and to dedicate himself entirely to architecture, the field in which he continued to be active into the early 1980s. This first ever officially licensed re-edition from William Switzer is dedicated to the realization of Lucien Rollin’s dream of excellence and quality.