Who is Pierre Legrain?

Pierre Legrain is a well-known character in the smoking world. And for good reason, he is the creator of the cigarette and cigar case. This Frenchman passionate about materials has designed models for many personalities. Zoom on Pierre Legrain, the genius decorator.

Pierre Legrain: an atypical profile

Born in Levallois-Perret in 1889, Pierre Legrain quickly developed a passion for leather and the different textures of materials. At the age of 12, he entered the Germain Pilon school to take drawing classes. He quickly became a student of Robert Delaunay and Rober Bonfils and learned for 6 years with them. At the age of 18, Pierre Legrain draws for the weekly magazine "Le Témoin", which allows him to meet Paul Iribe. At the age of 25, he joined the team of "La Baillonnette" and produced several drawings. These will lead to the creation of a new artistic movement called Art Deco.

Pierre Legrain got married at the age of 29, then set up his own workshop where he designed bookbindings. Then, he was hired by Jacques Doucet to design one of his apartments. Seduced, he was appointed principal decorator and asked to redo his entire apartment in Neuilly. Pierre Legrain was inspired by the art of black Africa, with seats made of curule, for example, or exotic woods, ebony, leather, parchment, mother of pearl, etc. Thanks to his innovations, he became a renowned decorator in Paris.

From apartment fittings to cigarette cases

Newly remarried and freshly installed in his new workshop, he decorated several villas and apartments of personalities, such as Robert de Rothschild, the Princesse Grace of Greece and the Viscount Charles de Noailles.

Fascinated by the world of smoking, Pierre Legrain will then put his talent to the creation of cigarette cases. Just as he does for real estate design, he will use various materials to give life to unusual smoking accessories. Three of them remain among the most famous, namely the cigarette case with geometric decorations, the one with the chrome cover and finally, the cigarette case made of snake skin.

In 1926, Pierre Legrain opposed the classicism of the Society of Decorative Artists by creating the group of five with Pierre Chareau, Raymond Templier, Jean Puiforcat and Dominique. In 1929, he created the logo of the Union des Artistes Modernes (UAM), then died suddenly of a heart attack the same year.