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D.I.M. (Décoration d’Interieur Moderne) is a French interior decoration and furniture creation house founded in Paris in 1919 by René Joubert, an architect and former employee of Jansen, and Georges Mouveau, who came from the world of theater. In 1924, after working alone for a year, René Joubert partnered with Philippe Petit, who had recently left the Primavera house.
The D.I.M. house manufactured serial-produced furniture in walnut or solid oak, as well as more luxurious pieces veneered with exotic woods such as rosewood, lemon tree mahogany or Macassar ebony with breathtaking grain patterns. They also created lighting fixtures, art objects, mirrors, fabrics, and carpets. Most of the furniture are characterized by strong lines and the minimal decoration is designed by René Joubert; Philippe Petit created wallpapers, carpets and took care of interior decoration.
At the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, D.I.M. presented, among other things, a Pleyel piano and a dining room; these pieces were highly successful. The following year, D.I.M. moved its store from 19 Place de la Madeleine to 40 Rue du Colisée, where it had a larger space. D.I.M. undertook projects for renowned private clients, as well as providing furnishings for airplane cabins and ocean liners.
Starting from 1927, D.I.M.’s creations became more modernist as René Joubert introduced metal and glass. The company gained attention at the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs in 1928 when it presented several entirely metallic furniture pieces, some of them were very audacious for the time, such as tables and chairs made of metal tubes designed for a bar in New York. In 1929 Joubert and Petit exhibited a modernist crystal vanity table at the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs, and the year after an aluminum dining room. However, D.I.M. didn’t completely abandon veneered wooden furniture, as evidenced by the six luxury apartments on the ocean liner called L’Atlantique that were furnished in 1931.
At times, independent designers as Louis Sognot create pieces for D.I.M. upon special requests. This is the case for a modernist aluminum gueridon with Saint-Gobain glass slab.
In 1931, René Joubert passes away and Philippe Petit leaves the company. During the 1940s the D.I.M. house continues to exhibit in various salons in Paris, beside Philippe Petit who is now independent.
Philippe Petit passes away in 1945.
