Graduate of Camondo, the famous school for decorative arts in Paris, Pierre Paulin (1927-2009) began his career in the workshop of Marcel Gascoin, the creator of a range of furniture and boat furniture. There, he met his future ARP collaborators, J.-A. Motte, P. Guariche and M. Mortier. He subsequently travelled around Sweden to learn more about Scandinavian modernist design. Thanks to these enriching experiences, on his return to France in 1953 he presented several creations at the Salon des Arts Ménagers. There he was noticed by Thonet France which led to a collaboration lasting until 1967. Meanwhile, he also worked with Meubles TV, Disderot and primarily the dutch manufacturing house Artifort, which went on to produce some of his most iconic pieces such as the Ribbon Chair (F 582, 1966), awarded the Chicago Design Award in 1969.

During this period, Paulin developed a new way of covering seats using colourful elastic fabric.

A new collaboration – again, long – began in 1968 with the Mobilier national: for five years Paulin designed the interiors of the Denon wing in the Musée du Louvre, then the private apartments for the French president Georges Pompidou in the Palais de l’Élysée. These official commissions seemed the logical outcome to his career. A decade later, in 1983, still through Mobilier national, he designed the office furniture for François Mitterand.

Meanwhile, in 1975 he created ADSA in partnership with Wodzisławska Maia and Mark Lebailly, and worked for industrial projects (Strafor, Calor, Allibert, Stamp), corporate advertisements (Air France) and train stations (Gare de Lyon, Gare de Versailles Rive Gauche).

Widely recognized, Pierre Paulin received numerous awards, including the Prix René-Gabriel (1960), the Chicago Design Award (1969) and the Grand Prix National de la Création industrielle (1987). His furniture is exhibited in the collections of the Musée des Arts décoratifs and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, which dedicated a monographic exhibition to him in 2016.