Serge Mouille (1922-1988) studied under Gilbert Lacroix at the École des Arts Appliqués in Paris. He worked as a designer in the studios of goldsmith Henin, where he stayed until the Liberation. In 1945 he decided to work on his own as an artisan and designer for French and international design studios. He made his first light in 1952, on the request of Jacques Adnet, director of the Compagnie des Arts Français, a three-armed model followed by the Série noire, composed of a light fixture, office lighting, wall-mounted lights, freestanding lights and other models. During the late 1950s, Mouille also designed jewelry as well as institutional lighting for a variety of clients, including schools in Marseilles and Strasbourg and a modernist cathedral in Bizerte, Tunisia.

A year later he exhibited his works at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. They met with success and Steph Simon Gallery distributed Serge Mouille’s production alongside names of the calibre of Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Noguchi and Luce. In 1958 he participated in the Exposition Universelle in Brussels, where he received a Diploma of Honour. Four years later he presented a new line of models including "Signal" and "Totem". Mouille refused to produce his light fixtures industrially as he loved artistic craftsmanship. In 1964 he stopped working and began to teach at the École des Arts Appliqués in Paris. In 1988 he was appointed Cavalier of Arts and Letters. He died in the same year.