Born in Berlin in 1938 and raised in Argentina, Kim Moltzer transformed the tropical exuberance of his childhood into a body of work where rigor meets fantasy. After studying in Switzerland and Paris, he co-founded the ECFI agency with Jean-Paul Barray in 1966. From this partnership emerged icons of 1960s design: the Penta chair published by Bofinger, the faceted pivoting lamp created with Henri Samuel, and the smoked-glass and brass bookcase, now coveted by collectors.

In the 1970s, Moltzer entered his “Bronze Age”: Bamboo tables, Griffe consoles, Gunnera and Apio lamps, along with a whimsical bestiary — turtles, seahorses, elephants — transfigured into luminous pieces of furniture. At once sculptural and functional, his creations seem to blossom from an enchanted garden.

That garden became real at Bailleul, his family estate, which he transformed into a poetic labyrinth of Renaissance order and tropical luxuriance. Designer, architect, landscaper and polyglot dandy, Moltzer left behind, upon his death in 2015, a rare oeuvre — at once geometric and organic — still celebrated in galleries and auctions, where his works continue to fascinate with their poetic power.