Jean-Louis Avril, born in 1935 in Saint-Nazaire, is a French designer and architect known for his bold experimentation with materials and form. A graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in architecture, he was influenced early on by forward-thinking architects and creators who nurtured his appetite for innovation. From the mid-1960s, he began exploring the potential of lacquered cardboard, transforming it into sculptural yet functional furniture and producing emblematic pieces such as the Bonga chair, sets of desks and chairs for children, and a coffee table presented at Expo 67 in Montreal. Light, minimalist, and strikingly original, his creations reflect the spirit of innovation and freedom of the postwar decades. Even today, they stand as evidence of a formal and material exploration that places Jean-Louis Avril among the distinctive figures of French mid-century design.