Cultural Union sits down with Olivier Roset, co-CEO of Ligne Roset, to talk about the brand’s extraordinary heritage, the challenges of the modern industry, and the iconic Togo.
For the past 165 years, the story of Ligne Roset has been the story of design. Pierre Paulin, Pierre Guariche and Pascal Mourgue all created work for the French furniture brand that remains in the catalogue today, alongside contemporary designers such as Yabu Pushelberg – whose interiors include the stunning redesign of La Samaritaine in Paris.
Then there’s Michel Ducaroy, designer of Ligne Roset’s talismanic Togo. Unveiled at Paris’s Salon des Arts Ménagers in 1973, the Togo’s crushed, slouchy appearance and lack of a base was so new and unexpected that the public initially had no idea what to make of it. Over 50 years later, it is one of the world’s few truly iconic pieces – more fashionable and desirable now than it has ever been. A Togo in a room imparts instant chic and glamour.
Ligne Roset now consists of five factories and 750 highly skilled employees, and while their showrooms grace neighbourhoods from Miami’s design district to Chelsea in London, they remain resolutely French, dedicated to craftsmanship and quality. We sat down with Olivier Roset, Ligne Roset’s co-CEO, to talk about the balancing of heritage and modernity, the challenges of the industry, and their vision for the future.
How does a brand with 165 years of heritage remain relevant in a rapidly evolving design landscape?
Our brand has always been a fine-tuning between inspiration from the past and from our archives, and future inspirations, ways of life and visions. It’s a virtuous circle. And being a family-owned business allows us to be more innovative and independent. We have more freedom to take risks and to experiment compared to companies with shareholders, and we are directly responsible for our successes and failures.
What is the brand’s design philosophy, and how has it evolved?
Modernity and creation have always been our philosophy. Creative people, interior architects, architects and final customers have always seen the brand as innovative and risk-taking, and we are well known for that and proud of it. As a manufacturer, Ligne Roset creates products that our competitors would never launch.
The Togo is such a design classic. What do you think accounts for its extraordinary and enduring success?
The Togo’s journey, as with those of other icons such as the Porsche 911, has not always been an easy path. It was not originally seen as a bestseller by dealers and end customers: it broke the rules, it didn’t have feet, was considered too light and so on. Success is often based on pushing the vision and on not giving up.
“Success is often based on pushing the vision and on not giving up.”
Olivier Roset, co-CEO of Ligne Roset
Nowadays, the Togo is iconic throughout the world and its buyers are proud to be part of a community of originals. They are living and sitting beautifully and are proud to show it.
How do you see the future of furniture design unfolding?
It depends on our mood. Sometimes, we are afraid that the furniture industry is not respecting intellectual property and copyright, because we see so many copies. International sales platforms think they can sell and promote as many copies as they like, but it’s pure theft.
On the other hand, we are so proud that so many customers, designers and architects are increasingly committed to defending the Ligne Roset brand – its quality, its design, its intellectual property, the French manufacturing: it gives us hope.
Elsewhere, we are working closely with Mycoworks Reishi, who are leading the biomaterials revolution and showing that mycelium-based materials [a mushroom-based leather substitute] can be used to create fashionable and sustainable clothing and covering for upholstery. As a French manufacturer, we are deeply involved in sustainability and social issues around our factories – it’s an integral part of our company’s DNA. Finally, we are proud that human know-how will always remain a key and strategic issue in our furniture industry. We remain craftsmen.
What do you see as the biggest challenges facing Ligne Roset today, and how are you turning these challenges into opportunities for growth and innovation?
Our primary challenge is explaining and communicating to the final customers that quality, workmanship, know-how and the salaries of skilled people have a price. We remain convinced that consuming a high-end, high-quality product every five or ten years is far more sustainable for our children than consuming crap which will be thrown away a day later. Thankfully, however, more and more customers are ready to listen and are committed to this vision of quality and consumption.
How do you preserve a commitment to quality in an era of mass production and fast furniture? Is the local training school for sewing and upholstery you launched last year a part of this?
Training new generations of craftsmen and women is the key, and demonstrating to them that quality andcraftsmanship are the essence of our company vision. We want to show the employees that the family is investing in them, in their training, in their factories. The whole Ligne Roset project is not based on greenwashing and short-term trends but on decades of investing in people, skills, factories, quality and disruptive and smart communication.
With last year’s 50th anniversary of the Togo, the Roset family home was in the news. What is its importance to you?
It was the house of my grandfather Jean Roset, so it has always been the centre of the family and the company. Jean Roset was curious and eager to discover so many things, including travel, the arts, painting and design. As with many people who had suffered from the war, they were eating life.
We have so many projects lined up for this house. We will tell you more soon…
Read more: French Design | France | Furniture | Mid-Century