TOLIX

Tolix designs and manufactures pressed metal furniture like the Model A chair, which has become an icon in industrial design. This mythical chair made of pressed sheet metal has established itself "by its solidity at all times, its unequalled lightness, its cleanliness easy to keep". Tolix's expertise was recognized by the Entreprise du patrimoine vivant award in 2006.

History. Tolix was founded in 1930 in Autun by Xavier Pauchard, the pioneer of galvanization in France. In the aftermath of the Great War, he became a visionary and inventive entrepreneur at the head of a flourishing manufacture of galvanized sheet metal household articles that were at the time the embodiment of domestic comfort. It was in 1927 that he registered the name Tolix when he converted to the "production of seats, armchairs, stools, metal furniture".

Stainless steel, robust, stackable, the various models designed by Xavier Pauchard immediately find their place in workshops, offices, hospitals as well as outdoors, on the terrace of cafés and in public gardens. Embarked on board the liner Normandy in 1935, these chairs also populate the aisles of the International Exhibition of Arts and Technology in 1937. A children's furniture was created in 1935, under the label "La Mouette".

This long and successful company remained in the family until 2004. It was then taken over by Chantal Andriot. She chose designers Jean-François Dingjian and Eloi Chafaï, alias Normal Studio, to assist her in the artistic direction. Their design questions the industrial tool and emancipates itself from the past to enhance the legendary know-how of the workshops.

Today, the company has equipped itself with high-performance digital machines that support the many manual operations and tools inherited from history. Half of its turnover is generated from exports, half of which is generated in the United States alone.

The products. Chairs, stools, armchairs, toy boxes, desks...

Employment. 90 employees for a turnover of 7 million euros.