Ligne Roset: comfort makes luxury

1860. Somewhere between Lyon and Geneva, a craftsman embarked on the manufacture of chairs without suspecting that he was thus laying the groundwork for a brand that his heirs would make famous. Five generations later, Ligne Roset represents elegance, know-how and timeless modernity. Meeting with one of the guardians of this heritage, Antoine Roset.

Isabelle Morin
The Press

“A Ligne Roset chair or piece of furniture is always more than wood and foam”, insists the Roset house. This is what we see by taking a seat in a Ploum model for this interview. Our own sofa clearly lacks assets, we say to ourselves as we settle into the seat… A glance at its price reminds us to order: Ligne Roset is a top-of-the-range brand. Our sofa has other merits.

Quality and contemporaneity are part of the brand’s DNA, notes the great-great-grandson of the founder, adding this essential pillar: the family.

With 700 points of sale worldwide and 160 years after its beginnings, Ligne Roset is still run by the same clan that made it the largest editor-manufacturer-distributor of contemporary furniture in France. And it is still in the department of Ain, where it all began, that the house manufactures its products with a know-how rooted in the French artisanal heritage.

“It’s the key to quality, says Antoine Roset. It allows us to control everything we do from A to Z and to be free. In this way, we can push creativity ever further. A hundred designers from all over the world work with the brand, which allows us to have a real richness in terms of design and to offer a mix of styles and shapes. »

Reimagine the seat

After the war, Ligne Roset invested in Scandinavian furniture which was, at the time, the most contemporary. However, it was in the 1960s that his true identity was revealed. Jean Roset meets Michel Ducaroy, then fresh out of the Beaux-Arts in Lyon and endowed with a particularly modern vision of design. The designer comes up with this idea that foam can contribute to the structure of a sofa and not just to its comfort.

From this alliance are born seats with distinct lines such as the Asmara, which can be assembled to create different seating platforms, the Marsala, a plump armchair that you would never want to leave, or the Asana, all in curves. Each presents, in its own way, “another way of sitting”. Togo, released in 1973, pushes the concept further.

Farewell firecracker, hello cigar!

“When he left, Togo was greeted quite coldly,” notes the brand’s marketing director, reporting the anecdotes of his grandfather. We said: “Your product is not finished. Something is missing!” “Feet, in particular. Yet this is what will explain part of its success, three years later.

Togo’s advertising campaign adopts the slogan “Farewell firecracker, hello cigar!” “, which directly targets the sixty-eighters. After having made the revolution, this generation is gradually lining up without wanting to do like its parents. Togo arrives with a vision of comfort and quality that is far removed from traditional furniture. The idea pleases.

The Roset personality

“I imagine our client as someone urban, open-minded, who loves culture in its broadest sense and who has travelled. He is young, not necessarily in age, but in his vision of the world”, reflects Antoine Roset, admitting that this portrait is quite close to his person.

The heir himself worked for 11 years in New York, first in the field of luxury watches, then for Ligne Roset, before settling in Lyon with his family four years ago. “I’m a bit like Obelix. It is true that I fell into it when I was little. Foam bales were my playground.”

“Our products are not accessible to everyone”, he agrees again, emphasizing that a product signed Roset is however a guarantee of longevity. “Togo passes from generation to generation. Some inherit a model that is over 40 years old. Inevitably, our customers have the means to buy our products, but some also choose to save because they recognize their intrinsic qualities. »

At a time when everything goes by quickly – including fashions – the house relies on other values. “Do we need the pink sofa that we see everywhere on Instagram? Not if we like our blue sofa, replies the manager without waiting for an answer. Let’s have personality! We buy a Ligne Roset for its contemporary signature, its comfort and its quality. Above all, we buy a Ligne Roset to keep it.