La Galerie Andrée Putman Opens, Re-Issues Iconic Designs

Andrée Putman, the luminary of French interior design, passed away more than a decade ago — but her design studio and legacy continue to thrive.

On Tuesday, her daughter Olivia Putman and Andrée Putman Studio chief executive officer Aurélie Laure revealed the opening of La Galerie Andrée Putman and the launch of a re-editions furniture collection, which is currently being sold on the Andrée Putman website. The new space is set within the same compound as the late creative’s design practice, which is located on 9 bis avenue de Saxe in Paris’ 7th arrondissement.

Visits are available by appointment only. The new space allows select guests a deep dive into the designer’s universe, which was greatly shaped by her distinct, bold taste and her Parisian milieu, which included fashion icons like Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld.

Opening Putman’s Designs to a Wider Public

Laure said the collection of re-edits took about a year to fine-tune and involved delving into Putman’s vast archives of drawings of bespoke projects and pieces.

“She did 150 interior design spaces for hotels, residences, offices and stores and she did very different kinds of projects,” explained Laure, who owns Putman’s trademark and the interior design practice. Laure explained that Putman’s style evolved in two distinct periods. The first was inspired by midcentury modern designers like Eileen Gray and Jean-Michel Frank. The second period, she said, was characterized by the boom of projects in the decades before her death, in which she developed a pure and timeless aesthetic.

Included in the collection is everything from lamps to bathtubs and evergreen pieces like the Compas dans l’œil lamp, the Ourse sofa and chairs, the Midi Suspendu daybed and Trois Regards, a white lacquered shelf that was designed for the Paris Spa Guerlain in 2005. The collection is produced in France, with new drops expected throughout the year. The space also introduces new editions envisaged in Putman’s legacy, including the Constellation Au Carré rug and the Quatre Feuilles table in a collector’s version.

Laure said she is currently mulling a second edition of releases based on the first period of Putman’s interior design career.

The studio’s recent projects are also presented, including the commemorative stamp issued by La Poste in late 2025, the Chemin Faisant by Andrée Putman scarf for Louis Vuitton, and the Voie Lactée passport holder created for private jet company Jetfly.

Putman’s aesthetic has reverberated worldwide, from the fashion to hospitality. Among her most memorable projects were the Morgans Hotel in New York, which was considered the first “boutique hotel” when it opened in 1984. She also designed the interiors of Air France’s Concorde, the office of France’s former Minister of Culture Jack Lang, several apartments for Lagerfeld and shop interiors for Barneys New York in Chelsea, Karl Lagerfeld, Azzedine Alaïa, Yves Saint Laurent and Guerlain and Le Bon Marché’s escalators.

The Early Days

Born in Paris on Dec. 23, 1925, she studied music at the city’s conservatory as a young girl. Her upbringing was conservative, and Putman rebelled early, sneaking off to the Café de Flore, where she fell under the spell of such luminaries as Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Antonin Artaud, Albert Camus, Juliette Greco and Alberto Giacometti.

At the dawn of her professional life, she worked as a journalist and later worked for a design consultancy. At Lagerfeld’s urging in the late ’60s, she shifted gears to interior design. In 1973, she teamed with Didier Grumbach, then president of France’s Chambre Syndicale, and founded Créateurs & Industriels to promote fashion and design. 

Putman opened her own agency, Ecart, in 1978, which continues today under the ownership of Pierre Yovanovitch, promoting early and midcentury design, reediting furniture from the likes of Frank, Gray, Robert Mallet-Stevens, Pierre Chareau and Mariano Fortuny.

In 1997, she sold Ecart and decided to launch her own interior design, designing an increasing number of objects and interiors, including the Pershing Hall hotel in Paris, Pierre Hermé’s pastry shop in Tokyo, as well as a lamp collection, carpets and bathtubs. Olivia Putman became the studio’s artistic director in 2007.

A Culmination of Events

The opening of the new Paris gallery is part of a centenary celebration that kicked off last year and which culminated in a private event in December 2025.

Looking ahead, the studio has its eye on expansion of its architectural practice with new projects in hospitality, private residences and cultural spaces and is currently working on the interior designs for the Christian Louboutin hotel in Melides, Portugal, which will be finished in September 2026.