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The round Guéridon Bas coffee table bears the distinctive signature of French designer and engineer Jean Prouvé. Available in different types of wood, the unassuming table lends itself to a wide range of interiors.
In the early 1940s, Jean Prouvé began to work more extensively with wood. The Guéridon Bas table has a heavy top in solid oak or American walnut resting on three legs in the same wood. These elements are joined together by a robust construction made out of bent sheet metal. Guéridon Bas is also available in dark smoked oak, harking back to an original version crafted in tropical wood and known as the 'Table Africaine'.
Jean Prouvé
Jean Prouvé completed his training as a metal artisan before opening his own workshop in Nancy in 1924. In the following years he created numerous furniture designs, and in 1947 Prouvé established his own factory. Due to disagreements with the majority shareholders, he left the company in 1953. During the ensuing decades, Prouvé served as a consulting engineer on a number of important architectural projects in Paris.
He left his mark on architectural history again in 1971, when he played a major role in selecting the design of Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers for the Centre Pompidou as chairman of the competition jury. Prouvé's work encompasses a wide range of objects, from a letter opener to door and window fittings, from lighting and furniture to façade elements and prefabricated houses, from modular building systems to large exhibition structures – essentially, almost anything that is suited to industrial production methods. In close cooperation with the Prouvé family, Vitra began in 2002 to issue re-editions of designs by this great French constructeur.
Swiss manufacturer Vitra’s collections of furniture and lighting bring together the colour, culture and sophistication of the world’s most prominent designers.