Founded in the late seventies, Ecart is the brainchild of the ineffable Andrée Putman, the brilliant aesthete who singlehandedly revived the neglected work of some great designers from the 1930s, including René Herbst, Jean-Michel Frank, Pierre Chareau and Eileen Gray. Following her instinct informed by her unique taste, Putman made the rather counterintuitive choice of re-editing some iconic designs from the past, despite the fact that, at the time, the business of furniture was all about newness.