The legendary French furniture designer and interior decorator Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann was a luminary of Art déco, the creator of luxury designs that are today some of the most coveted materpieces mde in Paris around 1920. Born in Paris in 1879, Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann took over the family decorating firm in 1907. From 1911 Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann showed his exquisitely elegant furniture and decorator objects at the Paris Salons d'Automne. Ruhlmann's pieces were invariably concieved as luxury one-offs, made of the most costly materials, including exotic hardwoods such as Macassar ebony, amboina, or rosewood with tortoiseshell and ebony intarsia inlay.
In 1919 Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann and Pierre Laurent founded Établissement Ruhlmann et Laurent. For the 1925 Paris "Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes", Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann caused a sensation with the interior design and furniture of the "Hôtel du Collectionneur" (A Collector's House) pavilion he created for the 1925 Paris "Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes".
In 1929 Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann showed an elegant study and living room he had designed for a crown prince at the "Salon des Artistes Décorateurs". The storage furniture designed for the library was bought by the actress Jeanne Renouard. The Maharajah of Indore even had it copied in Macassar ebony for his new palace at Manik Bagh. These modular storage pieces were also the forerunners of modern system furniture.
Over time, Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann's furniture designs became both more modern and more functional. Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann designed numerous stylish interiors for Paris town houses and the furnishings for several rooms in the Élysée Palace.