Despite his parents' disappointment, Serge Mouille followed his dream to be a designer at a very young age, and it eventually paid off. Born in France in 1922 to a seamstress and a policeman, Serge Mouille enrolled in the School of Applied Arts' silver workshop at only 13, which did not sit well with his parents. At 13, he became the youngest student in the school and took silversmithing and metallurgy, a sign that his passion for design and sculpture was prominent. Due to his gift in this trade, he began teaching at 25. After his graduation, Mouille continued working as an apprentice for his mentor when he was a student, Gilbert Lacroix, and worked for a few companies before starting his own studio. 

He introduced his first lamp design to the world in 1952, a lamp with a minimalist approach, the Three-Arm Floor lamp that took an organic form. The inspiration for the shape of shades was the female form using a somewhat suspicious logic that lamps are to be touched. However, this lamp design still is an iconic piece with almost six figures in an auction. Serge's work was shown in 1956 by a gallery owner, Steph Simon, who also showed pieces by Isamu Noguchi, Jean Prouvé, and Charlotte Perriand. The three-arm floor lamp was not the only iconic design that Serge Mouille ever made; there also was the Saturn table lamp. Due to his success, the French National Art Society and the Society of Decorative Artists inducted Mouille in 1955. He was awarded an honorary diploma at Brussels Expo.

 

Mouille seized lighting production after his second collection that used fluorescent tubes was not well received, and his partnership with Knoll failed to go through. He went back to silversmithing and spent his remaining years as a teacher at the School of Applied Arts and designing jewelry. After battling tuberculosis for a while, Serge Mouille succumbed in 1988.