The original photograph has been lost, but workshop manager Jérôme Bescond has carefully preserved a copy. It shows the then-young craftsman, smiling and in overalls, posing next to the designer Pierre Paulin. Before them is an armchair they made together. This was in the year 2000, and although the septuagenarian designer was tired, he still came early in the morning. "He was the eye and I was his hand," said Bescond. For weeks, they had been correcting the furniture's curve, ensuring that the material's feel was perfect. Everyone around them in the workshop looked at Paulin with a mix of respect and familiarity.

The man who died in 2009 was one of the greatest designers of the century, his creations having been exhibited all over the world. Here, within these walls, is where Paulin designed many of his tables, chairs and sofas. It's also here that he was partly responsible for inventing his curvy style, in this room where the noise of machines drowns out discussions and where material samples litter the floor. "My father felt at home when he was around craftsmen," explained his son, Benjamin Paulin. "He didn't think about luxury but about manual labor. He had found a refuge."

Bescond, 45, now runs what used to be Paulin's lair: The Research and Creation Workshop (ARC), a few rooms on the first floor and basement of the huge reinforced concrete building in the 13^th arrondissement of Paris that houses the Mobilier National (National Furniture), a stone's throw from the Gobelins Manufactory. Upstairs is the head office of this public institution, the French state's furniture repository. It houses the stock of desks, tables and armchairs from which employees of ministries, major public institutions and embassies draw. Here, Louis-Philippe chests of drawers are inventoried, tapestries are refurbished and people ponder ways of enriching the collections.

ARC is a one-of-a-kind institution. As its name suggests, it's a workshop where designers, young and old, famous or not, collaborate with a dozen or so craftspeople employed by the government. Together, they think up new furniture. Since Arc's foundation in 1964, over 1,2000 articles have been created. Some remain unknown, their only copy lying somewhere in the hallway of a ministry. Others have become so famous that people often forget they were imagined here.

One such example is the Musée du Louvre's benches, designed by Paulin, which welcome millions of exhausted visitors on a yearly basis. Another is the Elysée Palace's salons, designed by Paulin at the request of presidents Georges Pompidou and François Mitterrand. The list is very long indeed: Cryptogamme stools by Roger Tallon, round as light bulbs; Montreal armchairs by Olivier Mourgue, sold in furniture stores and copied all over the world; Patrick Jouin's Orria chairs for the newly renovated French National Library's (BNF) oval room at the Richelieu site; and the new France services kiosks, located all over the country. Lighting fixtures, consoles, fainting couches – all were designed here.

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