PARIS — The furniture industry has a new competitor, one with deep roots in luxury fabrics — historic French home textiles maker Pierre Frey is now making its own furniture.
On Friday, Paris’ Hotel de Guise was drenched in the house’s signature fabrics, wall coverings and its very first in-house furniture collection, which debuted during the five-day Paris Deco Off interior design event that closes Sunday.
About six years ago, Pierre Frey acquired an atelier outside of Paris and has been structuring the team and gearing up for its first collection. “We wanted to have the know-how of making furniture instead of having somebody else make our furniture,” a spokesperson told WWD.
Founded in 1935, Maison Pierre Frey has been a member of the French luxury association Comité Colbert since 1976. The organization comprises 81 French luxury goods companies dedicated to promoting French know-how and skill, history and innovation, internationally. Patrick Frey, who is the son of the founder, has helmed the company for five decades. He is currently the creative director and runs the company with his three sons: Pierre, Vincent and Matthieu. Pierre Frey (Patrick’s father) was born in northern France in 1903 and entered the world of interior design as a 17-year-old cutter for Maison Burger. He later went on to become director of Maison Lauer, where he befriended the designer Jean Chatanay. The two men created their own company and in 1937, Frey bought his business partner’s shares and started Maison Pierre Frey at 47 Rue des Petits-Champs.
At the intimate showcase, Patrick Frey told visitors that everything starts from one story, one inspiration, including the furniture. “We build a story around it and we build this story in our fabrics, wallpapers, carpets, rugs and furniture.”
This season unfurled under the “Deserts” theme as he was inspired by the deserts of Asia, America and Africa, he explained as a musician played a Bedouin flute on the staircase as guests sipped tea.
The Pierre Frey “Deserts” presentation at Hotel de Guise.
Its first in-house collection includes the Trefle sofa, inspired by the four-leaf clover, and was designed by French-Portuguese creative Toni Grilo; the Jimmy, a new collection of sculptural tables, and the Litho seating collection were designed by French creative Guillaume Delvigne. The company said the Litho was accepted to the permanent collection of Mobile National, a French national statutory corporation under the supervision of the French Ministry of Culture that preserves and upholds the history of French furniture and also nurtures modern designs.
In the intimate setting the collection was enhanced with knitted rugs with animalier prints, raw silk curtains with hand stitching and embroidered wall coverings.
Pierre Frey’s furniture pieces made with outside partners grew on the whole by 40 percent in 2024 versus 2023, a spokesperson for the firm said, adding that the U.S. is its primary market for furniture.
“We have had a great response there, followed by France, the U.K. and Italy with Asia coming in strong as well,” he said. The company’s aim is to open its own monobrand furniture retail spaces in the near to medium term.
“We’re starting small. We are a small atelier, so we’re starting small, but we’re growing fast. There’s really a need and a demand for French furniture,” he said.
An artisan makes the Pierre Frey Litho inside its new atelier.
courtesy of Pierre Frey
