Armand-Albert Rateau

Armand Albert Rateau (1882-1938) was a French sculptor, furniture designer and interior decorator, best known for his neoclassical and eclectic interpretations of the Art Deco movement. In 2006, The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts characterized him as "the most eminent of the ensembliers, the high-style designer-decorators", while Architectural Digest described him as "one of the most exclusive interior designers of the 1920s."

Born in Paris, Rateau showed an early predisposition for art, leading him to study at École Boulle. Armand Rateau was most particularly attracted to wood sculpture and furniture at a young age, and worked closely with the decorator Georges Hoentschel. At just twenty-three years old, he became artistic director of Alavoine et Compagnie, one of the most important decoration companies of the time, before setting up his own business in 1919 in his Parisian mansion. By 1929, his workshops employed two hundred and twelve artisans.

Antiquity and Eastern Asia inspired Armand Rateau in the various highly original interiors he imagined, the most famous being that of fashion designer Jeanne Lanvin, rue Barbet-de-Jouy in Paris, now recreated in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. His collaboration with Jeanne Lanvin allowed him to define his aesthetic formula, a subtle hybridization of styles, both antique and modern. Notable commissions of his also include work for the Daunou Theatre, the Duchess of Alba in Madrid and George and Florence Blumenthal in New York.

Going against the trends of the time, his timeless furniture pieces and incomparable interiors have redefined an entire industry and the world of the decorative arts. Despite his untimely death in 1938, Rateau's legacy endures through the timeless pieces and exquisite interiors that bear his signature.