ArtistFrench
Xavier Panchard
0 active items
Xavier Pauchard was born on 8 March 1880 in Saint-Léger-sous-Beuvray, a small commune in the Morvan region of Burgundy. His father and grandfather were both zinc roofers, and Pauchard grew up with an intimate knowledge of metalworking. That background shaped everything that followed.
In 1907 Pauchard made a discovery that would define his career: sheet metal could be protected from rust by submerging it in molten zinc at around 450 degrees Celsius - a process known as hot-dip galvanizing. It was not a new technique, but Pauchard was among the first in France to apply it systematically to domestic objects. He opened a small factory on the outskirts of Autun in Burgundy and began producing galvanized household goods: buckets, bins, small furniture for kitchens and workshops.
In 1927 he trademarked the name Tolix and formalized the business as a furniture manufacturer. The company's key product was already in development: a stamped steel chair with a stackable profile, designed to be durable enough for outdoor and industrial use without sacrificing a clean line. The chair carried a small signature detail, a pair of crossed bars forming an X beneath the seat - both structural reinforcement and a reference to the maker's initial.
The Chair A reached a wide public in 1935 when it was specified for the SS Normandie, the French transatlantic liner that was at the time the largest passenger ship ever built. The pairing of industrial galvanized steel with the luxury context of a flagship ocean liner gave the chair a particular cultural weight. Two years later it appeared at the Paris International Exposition. The H65 bar stool and the A56 armchair, developed alongside or in succession to the chair, extended the vocabulary into hospitality and café settings. Today the Chair A is held in the permanent collections of MoMA in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Vitra Design Museum.
Pauchard died in 1948. His sons continued the company to his specifications. Tolix has remained in production continuously, and the Chair A is manufactured today in Autun by the same methods Pauchard developed.
On Auctionet, Pauchard appears across 17 lots, all chairs and barstools sold through Stockholm Auction House (Sickla and Magasin 5), Olsens Auktioner, and a handful of regional houses. Lots have typically been sets of four to six chairs or stools. The highest recorded sale was 4,450 SEK for six Chair A pieces, with barbaool sets of five to six units reaching 2,000-2,500 SEK. The auction presence is modest but consistent, reflecting the practical durability of the objects - these are pieces still in active use being traded on, not rarities.