TASTEARBITER
W H E N T H E E Y E K N O W S
JEAN-MICHEL FRANK
Jean-Michel Frank was born in Paris in 1895 into a wealthy German banking family. He briefly studied Law but following the deaths of his two brothers in the First World War, and later losing his father and mother, Frank left school and traveled extensively before launching a career in interior design.
Despite to never having attended a school of architecture or design, Jean-Michel Frank was a self-made interior designer. He developed a unique personal style that became a benchmark of European Art Deco sophistication throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Favoring neutral tones and opulent materials such as gold, quartz, marble, shagreen, fine wood veneers and delicate straw marquetry, Frank’s simplistic and minimalist forms and lush interiors garnered the attention of the era’s most respected artists and patrons.
Over the course of his career, Frank met and befriended many luminaries, intellectuals and Surrealist artists including Peggy Guggenheim, Man Ray, Jean Cocteau, and Salvador Dalí. Perhaps one of the most iconic Surrealist objects created, Frank worked with Dalí on the Mae West Lips Sofa (1936-1937).
There were also notable collaborations with Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti, French artists Christian Bérard, Fernand Léger and fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, and most notably a collection of minimalist home furnishing designed for Hermès in 1924 which are still reproduced by the luxury brand today .
Frank was responsible for creating impressive interiors for an elite clientele such as Nelson Rockefeller, Charles Templeton Crocker and Marcel Rochas. Frank’s work also illuminated the decorative arts throughout the early 20th century.
Recognized as a primary influence on leading contemporary architects and designers, Frank’s work remains highly sought after by international collectors and resides in the most prominent museums around the world.
Today, Frank’s designs fetch high prices at collectors' auctions. In 2003, a trio of his trash cans designed for a Chicago-area mansion sold for $42,000; though it is not unusual for other pieces to fetch upwards of $200,000. Fashion icons Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent both owned pieces designed by Frank. Frank’s career and life were cut short due to his death by suicide in 1941.