The area around Rue du Bac/Blvd St Germain in the 7th arrondisement is where furniture stores congregate in Paris. Several manufacturer have their showrooms here. We passed Cappellini, Knoll, and Cassina but went into Kartell because we are interested in their Tati lamp.

Kartell, based in Milan, is known for their plastic furniture. Founded in 1949 by Giulio Castelli, a chemical engineer with a vision to create something good from plastics.

During the plastic-loving era of the 1960s and 70s, Kartell became a famous household name.

More recently, the company created hits such as Philippe Starck’s Ghost Chairs…

And Ron Arad’s Bookworm shelves.

Single-handedly they made plastic chic again. Here is Kartell’s web site celebrating the 10th year anniversary of the Louis Ghost chair.

I(Chris) think we can use a mirror in our hallway. How about that one with a light blue frame which looks like a tray (it could probably serve as one) ?

It was good to see the real pieces because in a catalog, one can never get a feel of the finish and the weight/strength – particularly when it comes to furniture made in plastics.

In various stores, we had seen the Tati lamp in white and beige but not in black. Now that we have seen it – I think if we are getting one we will go for the pleated beige shade (see picture below).

Plastic office furniture. Serious business ?

Although they are all mass-produced in molded plastics, the prices would make one think that they are manufactured with more precious materials and human attention.   Glad that we visited this showroom.