Roger Tallon – Design in motion

The Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris is hosting the exhibition “Roger Tallon, le design en mouvement” until January 8th 2017. We went there to discover this exceptional retrospective and to share our impressions with you!

Roger Tallon (1929-2011) is little known to the general public and yet he has changed design on many levels as we mentioned in a previous article. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest French industrial designers: his legacy is constantly present in our daily lives, much more than we imagine! Did you know, for example, that he is the designer of the TGV Duplex, theEurostar or even the Shell logo?

You may not know it, but Roger Tallon has donated his archives to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Through this collection of unpublished documents, the retrospective covers all the facets of this multi-talented man! The visit begins with various sketches and models from his work at Technès and his own agency Design Programmes SA

Then, we have the chance to discover the Japy typewriters designed by Tallon between 1958 and 1963 but also theGoupil 3computer (1982):

The industrial designer also designed cameras for Pathé (1956-1957):

Europ 8 projector (1958)

But also chairs for the furniture publisher Sentou:

Left: Wimpy Sentou chairs (1960) | Right: TS Sentou chairs (1978), left chairs

Roger Tallon designed the famous Elf packaging in the early 1970s:

If there is a very famous creation of the Frenchman, it is Téléavia, the P 111 portable television set (1963):

The Cryptogramme series for Mobilier National (1968) is also present:

A large part of the exhibition is of course devoted to his work for the SNCF and in particular for the TGV Duplex, Corail and Eurostar.

Louis Vuitton briefcase for the presentation of the Eurostar model (circa 1987)

Below you will surely recognise the Module 400 series (1966 ) for the Lacloche Gallery, with the famous staircase:

As you can see, Roger Tallon had more than one string to his bow! He worked for a multitude of sectors, so you won’t be surprised to learn that he was the designer of the Taon motorbikes for Derny Motors (1955-1957):

If you know Roger Tallon well, you will recognise below the very famous Zombies seats for the bar L’Astroquet (1969):

We hope that this overview has aroused your curiosity and that it will make you want to visit the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Many other objects and documents are presented throughout this rich exhibition, so don’t wait any longer and run to discover “Roger Tallon – Design in Motion“, we promise you won’t be disappointed!