René Herbst
(1891 - 1982)
Herbst became known in 1921 when he made his debut at the Paris Autumn fair presenting “Relax Corner” to the Crillon Museums.
He was born in Paris in 1891 and after concluding his studies he started working in several Architectural studios. In the following years he continued his work in various cities such as London and Frankfurt.
Starting from 1919 Herbst aligned himself to the new European trends which moved towards the design and construction of furniture in tubular metal. Indeed a few years after there was the first chair in nickel plated, cold drawn tubular steel made by M. Breuer, the “Wassily” model.
In this chair, for the first tme, the shape respected the function and combined with the requirements for mass production.
Herbst reached full creative maturity around 1928, a year in which numerous strict and functional designs for tubular metal furniture appeared.
During the following years he was also occupied with fitting out shops, window displays and internal lighting.
He also took charge of designs for the cinema and for furnishing restaurants and offices in which in his creations in tubular metal, still modern, light and functional, always found a happy setting.