Métropole no. 305 chair, 1950
In 1950 the Ateliers Jean Prouvé design office was working on a new version of the “semi metallic” chairs—metal frame, wooden seat—that would combine the principle of the prewar metal-framed chair no. 4 with the mounting systems of the earlier wooden models. The frame comprised two “uniform strength” pressed steel rear uprights, to which were welded the curved tubes of the front legs, with braces holding them together. Put on the market a few months after the knockdown model (Cafétéria no. 300), the Métropole no. 305 chair differed in the use and the methods of attachment of the metal components: a tubular brace connected the pressed steel rear uprights, to whose interior the tubes of the front legs were welded. The frame was notched to receive the backrest—fixed to welded plates with Parker screws and brass or aluminum studs—and the rear of the plywood seat, which slipped into a slot. The protective plugs for the legs, initially pigskin, then rubber, were simply inserted into the metal uprights. The molded plywood components1 were varnished and the metal parts oven lacquered. Upholstered with leatherette, the padded variant (no. 306 or D) came onto the market later, for use in offices and campus buildings. Tests with aluminum began in 1953. A prototype base of bent steel and aluminum tube was made, resulting in a small series which used wood for the seats and backs of some models, and aluminum sheet for the others. There were also later variants combining steel frames with aluminum backs and seats. A thousand of the “Metro semi-metallic chairs” came out of the Maxéville factory in 1951.2 Distributed, then made by Steph Simon until 1969, this model is certainly the best illustration of Prouvé’s plans for mass production.
1. The Ateliers Jean Prouvé were supplied by the Luterma.
2. “Liste des séries de meubles standard fabriqués en 1951”, Ateliers Jean Prouvé.