Pierre Cardin Dinning Table Late Seventies

In 1974, Roche Bobois opened its first showroom in the United States on Madison Avenue in New York City. The celebrated luxury French furniture brand is now in 50 countries with more than 200 stores.

The Roche Bobois story has origins in 1950, when entrepreneur Jacques Roche converted an old Paris theater into two contemporary furniture boutiques so that his sons could help usher stunning Bauhaus-inspired work out of the shops and into French homes nearby.

At another showroom called Au Beau Bois, also in the French capital city, the Chouchan family was simultaneously selling home furnishings. The families met later, when Philippe and François Roche convened with Patrick and Jean-Claude Chouchan at a furniture exhibition in Copenhagen in 1960 and afterward produced a catalog announcing their partnership.

Minimal and modernist Scandinavian design had gained prominence in the furniture industry by 1960, rendering designers such as Kaare Klint and Poul Henningsen marquee names — and Roche Bobois's principals had taken notice. Following a national advertising campaign in Elle magazine a year later, the Scandinavian furniture that the newly minted Roche Bobois was importing to Paris became a huge success. Early promotional material from the firm likely included the sleek modular wall units crafted in rosewood by Danish furniture maker Poul Cadovius. It didn’t take long for Roche Bobois to shift toward producing its own contemporary furniture line.

When the popularity of cable television took hold in more major American cities during the 1970s, sofas and other seating became integral to contemporary living-room decor. Roche Bobois’s newly launched Les Contemporains series positioned its own sofas front and center, and it also offered plush lounge chairs designed by Mario Bellini.

Bold works from the company during the decade included Marc Berthier’s Pop Art–colored tubular metal desks and chairs — the latter covered with braided fabric — as well as one of Roche Bobois’s most enduring and well-known pieces, the Mah Jong sectional sofa created by sculptor, painter and designer Hans Hopfer. Anchored by few central elements, this modular lounge sofa can be combined or stacked, giving the buyer total freedom over its appearance and the ability to maximize comfort.

Since its inception, Roche Bobois has worked with many internationally renowned architects and designers on its collections, among them Paola Navone and Vladimir Kagan. Even fashion designers such as Missoni and Emanuel Ungaro have made contributions to the company’s lineup.

In 2010, Roche Bobois marked its 50-year anniversary by debuting a partnership with French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier. A decade later, Roche Bobois teamed up with Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, who designed a collection of organically shaped sofas as well as vibrant, colorful accent pillows and rugs.

Roche Bobois’s offerings over the years have included everything from mid-century modern armchairs to Art Deco case pieces to sculptural outdoor cocktail tables framed in metal wire — shop these classics now on 1stDibs.

Best known for creating groundbreaking fashion designs from the 1950s onward, Pierre Cardin enjoyed great success in other design fields, most notably furniture. Cardin’s chairs, cabinets, tables and other pieces share many of the keynotes of his clothing designs. They are simple, geometric, elegant and cool.

Cardin was born in a village near Venice, Italy, and raised in central France. Always interested in fashion, he left home at age 17 to train with a Vichy tailor. After the end of World War II, Cardin moved to Paris and worked for a succession of couture houses, before taking a job with Christian Dior in 1946. Cardin went solo in 1950, and quickly won attention for his novel style.

Unlike Dior’s famous New Look, Cardin’s clothes de-emphasized a woman’s curves; his breakthrough pieces like the Bubble dress had, instead, a sculptural quality. In the following decade, Cardin introduced bright tunic dresses and shifts, marketed as the Space Age look and accessorized with vinyl hats and visors.

In the 1970s Cardin expanded his design work into furniture, jewelry and automobiles. (Later, licensing agreements would put Cardin’s name on goods ranging from perfume to sunglasses.) Cardin’s furniture pieces — inspired, perhaps, by the rediscovery of Art Deco design in that decade — feature simple, symmetrical forms, lacquer and figured veneer finishes, and accents in metals such as aluminum and brass.

Whether you are looking for a vintage cocktail dress or a chest of drawers to keep it in, as you will see on 1stDibs, Pierre Cardin offers an option in either that is timelessly chic.