Jules Leleu (1883-1961) was a French furniture designer, decorator and sculptor, and one of the defining figures of Art Deco. Born in Boulogne-sur-Mer into a family of artisans and decorators, he took over his father's decorative painting business with his brother Marcel, and turned the firm - Maison Leleu, in the family since the eighteenth century - towards furniture after the First World War.
His work is marked by simplified forms in precious woods, marquetry and ivory inlay, and it won him a Grand Prix at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Maison Leleu furnished more than twenty ocean liners, among them the Île-de-France, the Atlantique and the Normandie, and its interiors were completed with carpets made for the room they stood in.