Design and
Engineering
The modular shelving system Elysée was born from the collaboration between
Magis and the French designer Pierre Paulin. It was September 2002 when
Eugenio Perazza, Magis founder, went to visit Paulin in a small town, St. Romain
des Codieres, in the Cevennes, where he had retired since 1990.
“For many years he had hung his pencil on the wall, I convinced him to resume
his old work with these words: “Pierre, maybe you no longer need design, but
design still needs you!” He was a myth of design, of great visionary and prophet-
ic acumen” says Perazza.
A beautiful collaboration began and in 2009 the Flower armchair and the Elysée
shelving system were born.
The origins of Elysée date back to 1971. In this year Pierre Paulin was commis-
sioned to fit out the lounge, the dining room, the smoking room and the library
of the private apartments for the President Pompidou at the Elysée Palace in
collaboration with the Mobilier National. On that occasion he designed a smoked
methacrylate shelving which was then the starting point for our bentwood book-
case.
Elysée is a shelving system that can be modulated in an endless series of com-
positions. It’s available in natural maple plywood, in American walnut plywood
and in painted oak plywood (black or red). The modules can be combined
according to your needs thanks to the “T” joints in white or black ABS, to create
different and infinite compositions. It can be placed not only against the wall but
also as a partition element in the middle of the room.
