Conférence no. 355 chair, 1954
Designed in 1954 to round off the Ateliers Jean Prouvé range of seating aimed at the university market, the “light” chair uses the principle developed in 1951 for the no. 805 Maternelle (child’s) chair: a metal structure made up of tapering bent steel back legs, welded to a transversal tube to which are also attached the support for the seat and for the backrest. The latter was mounted using three aluminum socket screws. The light tube front legs were extended upwards to support the solid oak armrests, meeting the backrest support at the back. Upholstered with fabric or leatherette, this model—distributed then made by Steph Simon—was aimed at the office and public sector markets. An aluminum variant was designed using a different system for the armrests, but only a prototype was ever made.