Born in 1877, Paul Follot is the son of wallpaper manufacturer Félix Follot. After studying with Eugène Grasset, he devoted himself to the decorative arts. In 1901, he works for the gallery La Maison Moderne (by Julius Meier-Graefe), for which he makes drawings of jewellery and tapestries. Paul Follot then met Maurice Dufrêne who also worked for Julius Meier-Graefe. This encounter strongly influenced Paul Follot in the artistic continuation of his career.
After co-founding the artist group L'Art dans Tout in 1903, his career as a decorator took off when he became self-employed in 1904. He was a founding member of the Société des artistes décorateurs and participated in the 1908 and 1909 salons, opening a new path for French decorative art.
In 1911, he designed ceramics for Wedgwood, textiles for Cornille et Cie, and silver objects for Christofle. In 1920, he started a course in applied art at the rue Madame school, before finding himself in 1923 managing the Pomone workshop (the interior design workshop of the Parisian store Le Bon Marché).
For the International Exhibition of 1925, he built several pavilions, including the Pomone pavilion. From 1928, Paul Follot was a member of the board of directors of the English company Waring & Gillow, where he worked with Serge Chermayeff on furniture design and interiors for the Modern Art Department.
After 1931, he became self-employed again and in 1935 he was commissioned to build a suite for the liner Normandie, which was to be presented at the Brussels Exhibition. The style of the suite was sumptuous and in opposition to the austerity of modernism, which sought to take precedence over Art Deco. For the same liner and under commission from Pleyel, he made a model of a rosewood piano on a single pedestal. This piano will be presented at the 1937 Universal Exhibition in Paris.
Paul Follot retired to the South of France in 1939, where he died in 1941.