The flowing, voluptuous curves of this stool seem to create movement, calling to mind the amorphic shapes found in nature. In the years around 1900 a number of young European designers sought to use materials commonly thought of as rigid – wood, glass and metals – in innovative ways. They imaginatively blended and adapted historical styles such as 18th-century French Rococo, with its shell and flower motifs, with Far Eastern and folk influences. The style became known as l’Art Nouveau, or ‘New Art’. It was seen at its highest state of development at the Paris International Exhibition in 1900.

This stool is one of the items exhibited at the Paris exhibition. The artist Louis Bigaux designed it for the well-known manufacturer and retailer Maison Bagués. Bigaux’s work was unusual in comparison with that of other designers working in the Art Nouveau style because he both understood and harnessed the production possibilities of machines. Many artists designed for hand manufacture but Bigaux’s designs were often mass-produced and therefore cheaper. They were well adapted to a bourgeois clientele searching for elegant yet affordable furniture.

This stool formed part of a suite of furniture, which otherwise comprised a table, armchair and chair. They are all now in the V&A’s collection (Museum nos. 1993-1900 to 1995-1900).