Table for the 9th Milan Triennial, 1951
In the spring of 1951, the Ateliers Jean Prouvé exhibited samples of their standard furniture on the French booth at the 9th Milan Triennial. The booth itself was designed by Henri Prouvé. Also on display was a specially made exhibition table comprising wooden legs set into four triangular bent steel sections, welded together, on which was set a reversible laminate top 226 x 96 cm.1 This distinctive system had emerged from a 1942 project for a dining table for the Casino at the Solvay plant in Dombasle: here, slanting metal legs had been welded to the middle of a bent steel frame supporting a mahogany top. The legs of the table shown in Milan were similarly positioned, but were of solid oak with a curved profile. They were set into metal sheaths welded to the underside of the frame. During the summer of 1951, two examples of this model, but with smaller, tiled concrete tops, were made for the Villa Dollander at Saint-Clair, designed by architect Henri Prouvé, to which a new kitchen had been added.
1. This table, after having been presented in Milan from May–September 1951, was bought by a foreman of the Ateliers Jean Prouvé for his personal use. Among the official distinctions awarded in the French section of the 9th Triennial, Henri Prouvé received the Grand Premier Prix for his architectural projects and Jean