Desk with Compas base, 1953
The last type of furniture structure created by Jean Prouvé was the Compas base of 1953. It is also one of his most iconic creations, together with the “standard” chair based on the 1934 model, with which the “compas” tables and desks were often associated. The principle of tapered bent steel legs welded to a broadsection tubing brace was applied from 1951 onwards to the Maternelle and Scolaire furniture types, in conjunction with more narrow tubing supports. The new Compas base used this principle in a pared-down form: the triangular-section legs were welded two by two to the crosspiece, which also had a triangular bent steel bracket at each end. Called Compas from the outset, this frame was used for both tables and desks, which differed markedly in the placing—symmetrical or asymmetrical—of the legs on each side of the brace, and in the profile of the brackets. Aimed mainly at the school and office market, the asymmetrical model had a distinctively assembled prototype, with the open tube of the brace extending beyond the legs, which were welded to the outside of the end brackets. Although it appears in an advertising document, this model does not seem to have been largely distributed. More commonly produced from 1953 onwards, the brackets welded to each end of the base conceal the assemblage of the legs and the tubing of the brace. The frame is adapted to the shape and size of the top, and can include intermediate brackets for extra strength or for the attachment of the drawers, notably in the case of curved or doubled variants. The models more specifically designed for office use—Secrétaire and Direction, straight or curved—were equipped with wood or metal compartments to house drawers made of wood, metal or plastic. The tops were of solid or laminated wood, covered (or not) with laminated plastic. The legs were sometimes fitted with welded circular tips. These lighter models rounded off the Direction no. 200 and Secrétaire no. 202 range of desks. The school and university markets gave rise to adaptations, such as the addition of a sheet metal compartment under the top containing a pencil case and inkwell, identical to that of the two-seater school desk. An all-aluminum prototype was developed in 1953: a two-seater desk-table whose end brackets were replaced by a sheet aluminum storage compartment. A cheaper variant replaced the triangular bent steel legs with tubes: fitted with plastic drawers on runners (designed by Charlotte Perriand). This model was used for Bachelor dormitory rooms at the Cité Universitaire in Antony, equipped by the Ateliers Jean Prouvé, who had won the 1955 competition. Marketed, and then made, by Steph Simon, the various Compas base desk models remained on the market longer than the tables with the same base (Cafétéria no. 512). Together with the Présidence desk they were still on the price list in December 1965, in several sizes and with various fittings