I guess I haven't followed the development of the Jean Prouvé market as closely as I'd thought; otherwise I might have known that TECTA, the German manufacturer of some early Prouvé furniture--and the contemporary re-issuer of others--also produced a nursery school chair that hadn't made it out of sketch form during the designer's lifetime.
The example in MoMA's current Atelie Jean Prouvé exhibition was made in 1990 and touts TECTA's realization of Prouvé's 1934 idea of flattening the steel tubes to add strength and rigidity. Whether it ever went into production or not, I can't tell, but I imagine the Bruchhauser brothers are not selling this one anytime soon.
Atelier Jean Prouve is on view at MoMA through Jan. 2009 [moma.org]
Given my adopted French roots, I'm happy to see a French designer get so much press these days (seriously, have you seen any shelter magazines in the past year or so that DON'T prominenty feature a Prouve chair or table placed strategically in one of the rooms?). But I have to say that I'm never really blown away by anything he did. I know that's heresy and I'm sure the PR firm representing his designs will hunt me down for saying that, but still...
Given my adopted French roots, I'm happy to see a French designer get so much press these days (seriously, have you seen any shelter magazines in the past year or so that DON'T prominenty feature a Prouve chair or table placed strategically in one of the rooms?). But I have to say that I'm never really blown away by anything he did. I know that's heresy and I'm sure the PR firm representing his designs will hunt me down for saying that, but still...
What fancy chairs! Incredible!
Yvie
http://tangerineslullaby.eachday.com