Matégot Mathieu

Biography

Mathieu Matégot was born a Hungarian born French designer and architect who studied at the school of art and architecture in Budapest. He moved to France in 1931 and had a workshop in Paris where he began making his furniture designs by hand using original techniques and materials. The material ritigulle, a fine perforated metal sheeting that he discovered whilst held captive in Germany during the war, was used in many of his designs and often combined with metal tubing. This use of ritigulle paired with tubular metal became a signature of Matégot's work.

During the 1950s, Matégot created a range of cutting edge designs that are still seen as very contemporary. He founded the Société Matégot to produce his work with a workshop in both Paris and Casablanca.

In 1959, Matégot began to work on a previous passion of his; tapestry design. He abandoned furniture design to concentrate on his tapestries and continued in the tapestry world for the remainder of his career, becoming a pioneer of the French modern tapestry movement.