About

We sell period pieces made by their original manufacturer, such as USM Haller, Ligne Roset, Cassina, Knoll, Vitra, Fritz Hansen or Artemide, by designers including Charlotte Perriand, Pierre Paulin, Mario Bellini, Achille Castiglioni, Charles and Ray Eames and Pierre Jeanneret.

We also offer vintage tableware, bought as lots from documented family estates: Gien and Sarreguemines faience, Vallauris ceramics, Iittala glassware.

We keep the range deliberately narrow, so that we can document and stand behind everything in it.

Vintage designer furniture is sold all over the place, and rarely in good conditions: antique markets vary wildly, platforms check very little, good dealers are hard to reach and auctions put many private buyers off.

Many pieces sold as USM, Roset or Knoll are nothing of the sort, and a retouched photo is enough to hide the wear.

We set up the gallery so that private buyers, architects and hoteliers can buy designer furniture without becoming specialists.

Nicolas Bret works in Paris and picked up the trade in the field, one case at a time. That is where he learned to identify a genuine USM Haller by eye, tell a Ligne Roset reissue from a first-period Togo, read a Cassina marking or spot a Pierre Jeanneret that came back from Chandigarh.

He relies on catalogues raisonnés, manufacturer archives, period technical sheets and his own eyes.

1. We source in France and five neighbouring countries, from specialist antique markets, auction houses, dealers, private sellers and collectors. The details are on the sourcing page.
2. We check markings, serial numbers, period sheets and manufacturer archives. If authenticity cannot be established, the piece is not listed.
3. We restore with a light hand: leather is nourished, seats are redone and USM frames are repainted in their original RAL if needed, but wood and upholstery keep their patina.
4. We photograph the piece in the workshop, in neutral light and without cosmetic retouching: the whole piece, the markings, the wear.
5. It leaves with a signed certificate of authenticity giving the designer, edition, estimated date, markings and, when we know it, the provenance.
6. Delivery is insured at declared value. We use Cocolis in mainland France, specialist carriers for sensitive pieces and providers we know for shipments abroad. Damage reported within 48 hours is covered.

The price shown is the price you pay, with no hidden haggling and no discounts kept for a few. We show the flaws, so what you receive is what you saw on screen. When provenance is documented, we give it; when it isn't, we say it is unknown rather than make up a story.

We describe pieces plainly, without superlatives, luxury posturing or greenwashing. The vintage design market is small and well-informed buyers talk to each other: we simply could not work without being transparent.

• Circular economy: what vintage actually changes compared with new.
• Trade: for interior architecture, hospitality, restaurants and image productions.
• Contact: for a question, a project or a piece to offer us. We reply within forty-eight working hours.