Armand Albert Rateau

Armand Albert Rateau (1882, 1938) was a French decorator and designer celebrated for his extraordinarily inventive approach to luxury interiors and furnishings, blending antique influences with a highly personal, fantastical aesthetic. He is best known for his patinated bronze furniture featuring naturalistic motifs, dragonflies, birds, and foliage, as well as his celebrated collaboration with couturière Jeanne Lanvin, for whom he designed her legendary Paris apartment and bathroom. His work stands at the intersection of Art Deco and a singular archaizing sensibility drawn from ancient Egypt, Greece, and the Far East.