Andrée Putman was born in 1925 in Paris. Abandoning her initial plan of a musical career, from the 1950s onwards she worked as a journalist and designer for the magazines “Elle” and “l'Oeil”. Open to the art of her time, she was acquainted with a number of artists such as Pierre Alechinsky, Bram Van Velde,
Alberto Giacometti and
Niki de Saint Phalle. Whilst working as a designer in 1958 for the Prisunic chain of shops and later for the Mafia agency in 1968, she intuitively spotted many future talents (Issey Miyake, Ossie Clark, Claude Montana and Thierry Mugler). From the 1980s onwards, Andrée Putman developed numerous projects, in interior design, rehabilitation, as well as the conversion of spaces into cultural sites, which little by little added to a growing international reputation (Morgans Hotel, New York; Boutiques
Azzedine Alaïa, Paris;
Musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux; The Concorde; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen). In 1978 she created the ECART study office and brought back to the light works by forgotten creative talents from the 1930s.
