About Roger Fatus

Roger Fatus was born in 1926. After attempting law studies in Lille, he turned to the School of Beaux-ARTs in his hometown, Tourcoing, much closer to his concerns. He then studied at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, from which he graduated in 1953. After two years of work in a design office, he joined the agency of Jacques Dumond, talented decorator with modern elegance and the high customer keen of of luxurious large public projects. He was joined by his friend Dirk Jan Rol, who he met at ENSAD. The agency Jacques Dumond is, for many young graduates, including Roger Fatus, a school of rigor and a real springboard.

At the instigation of Jacques Dumond, Fatus exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs in 1956, then at the Universel Fair in Brussels in 1958, and participated in the development of an apartment of the architect Pierre Vago in the one of the most innovative urban planning projects of its time, Interbau (a residential district in West Berlin). He opened his agency Rue Madame in Paris and developed different types of projects: private apartments, community development, children’s furniture edition etc. He assisted the development of the tertiary sector in France during the Thirty Glorious, and worked for Thomson’s head office, Pathé Marconi stores or Fnac.

His elegant, functional, and rigorous design appealed to both large hotel chains and the first Louison Bobet Thalassotherapy Institute in Quiberon. In 1967 the Mobilier National commissioned him to study a conference table. Realized in the ARC workshops, the Grand Prix du Meuble was awarded in 1968. He works regularly with his brother Marc Fatus architect, and his creations are published at Sentou or at Disderot for lighting.

His modern and refined style, the formal and moral rigor of his drawing from the tradition of the modernist decorators of the interwar period and the Union of Modern Artists brought him a real recognition and several awards as the prestigious Prix René -Gabriel in 1969. He taught for several years first at the ENSAD, and then at the Camondo school, which he directed from 1982 to 1989.