The duo of Robert Guillerme and Jacques Chambron and their company, Votre Maison denote a landmark of French mid-century design history.

Robert Guillerme studied design and architecture at the École Boule, graduating first in his class in 1934. After the Second World War he moved to Lille, in the north of France, where he decorated homes and designed furniture for the well regarded Rogier workshops. Meanwhile, Jacques Chambron graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Reims.

The two met in 1940 while imprisoned by the Germans in East Prussia and bonded over, among other more obvious things, their shared passion for design. In 1948, Chambron left his work as a painter and decorator on the Rue Nollet in Paris, and relocated his family to join Guillerme. In 1949, the pair discovered Émile Dariosecq, a master cabinetmaker who had a shop in the city, and was willing to produce their designs. The three started Votre Maison. The association was destined to be as influential as prolific. Not only did Votre Maison produce over two thousand models during the latter half of the twentieth century, it also left an indelible stamp on the design of the 50s, 60s and 70s. The company’s output served as a model for a vast field of liveable contemporary design.