Tolix Chair: History of an industrial design classic

We see it everywhere: restaurants, cafes, stores, offices … And it’s that the Tolix Chair has become one of the icons of industrial design and with the retro boom it’s one of the most sought after vintage chair models. But it was not always the case, let’s learn about its history.

History of the Tolix Chair

The Tolix chair was designed in France more than 80 years ago by Xavier Pauchard, a young man born in Le Morvan, curiously enough a region known for its timber production and whose family was dedicated to zinc processing.

At the age of 27, after years of experimentation, Xavier Pauchard succeeded in protecting metals from oxidation thanks to galvanizing, which led him to the manufacture of outdoor metal furniture, founding his own company: Tolix.

The furniture manufactured by Xavier Pauchard was a great success, especially among the restaurants and cafés of Paris, which appreciated the lightness, resistance and functionality of this type of furniture for the hotel and catering industry.

It was in 1934 that the Tolix chair, also known as the A-chair, was first designed. It was designed specifically for outdoor use, so it had three holes in the seat to drain water.

The chair underwent several modifications as Parisian hoteliers complained that the design did not allow them to stack them properly. Pauchard had to redesign the product, making its structure thinner so that up to 25 chairs could be stacked.

The success of the new design spread beyond Parisian cafés to offices, factories and hospitals around the world, and today it is one of the best-selling chair models.

The Tolix factory remained in the Pauchard family until 2004 when it was acquired by Chantal Androit, who enlisted the help of creatives Jean-François Dingjian and Eloi Chafaï of Normal Studio to revitalize the company’s designs, resulting in a new line of Tolix products including tables, benches, low and high stools.

Tolix Steel Design is still today one of the leading manufacturers of design furniture with more than 8 million euros of annual turnover.

The Tolix chair, as we have seen, is a chair with character and history that has become a basic in the decoration that is even present in museums such as MoMA or the Pompidou in Paris.

The Tolix chair is very versatile and adapts to any space and decorative style. It dresses up any room and looks great on rustic, hydraulic or wooden floors.

You can get it in different finishes and colors, with or without armrests, with smooth or perforated backrests.

Tolix Models

It couldn’t be any other way, at MisterWils we have different replicas of Tolix models, from chairs to stools, through tables:

And you, which Tolix chair model will you choose?