Two "T 1927" end tables by P.Chareau, Ed. Ecart International, France circa 2000

Two side tables model “T 1927”, by Pierre Chareau, published by Ecart International.
Stamped under the top. Base in dark gray lacquered steel, top in veneered oak.
Some pairs available.

Biography

Pierre Chareau (1883 France – 1950 United States)

Pierre Chareau is one of the first modern interior designers in France using new materials, such as glass or steel.

Pierre Chareau was born in Bordeaux in 1883. He studied at the Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts then worked in England from 1899 to 1914 as a designer for the company Waring & Gillow (manufacturer and importer of English furniture).

In 1919, after the war, he opened his own architecture and design agency. He imagined giving more flexibility to furniture and partitions thanks to pivoting or sliding parts. He exhibited for the first time at the Salon d’Automne where his work was greatly noticed, which earned him the opportunity to become a member. From 1922, he created a series of lamps and wall lights using sheets of alabaster and then wooden furniture with mechanisms and moving elements which symbolized the “Chareau style”. Like other designers and architects of this period (Eileen Gray, Francis Jourdain, Auguste Perret, Pierre Legrain, etc.), he distinguished himself by advocating the subjugation of structure to function and the use of furniture with combined functions. integrating with the interior volumes. They all presented a common stand that was particularly noted at the Salon of Decorative Artists in 1924. Pierre Chareau then opened a store on rue du Cherche-midi “La Boutique” in order to promote his work and that of other artists.

He also contributed to cinematographic works as a decorator and created, for the Universal Exhibition of 1925, the library office of a French embassy (circular plan, topped with a dome supported by 2 posts, comprising wooden panels in

fan modulating light, structured by bays and walls equipped with integrated wooden library shelves). From 1926, he created desks, seats, furniture, in wood and metal and was requested for numerous creations and interior designs, notably for the Grand Hôtel de Tours, the Villa Noailles, and of course the Maison de verre, rue Saint Guillaume in Paris, built between 1928 and 1931. Between 1931 and 1932, he created offices in glass and copper slabs.

Pierre Chareau left in 1940 for the United States where he was called upon to design several villas, in East Hampton and Spring Valley in particular.

He died in the United States in 1950.

To find out more, read the Wikipedia page.

Story

Ecart International

By creating Ecart International in 1978, Andrée Putman, the great lady of design, began by resurrecting the forgotten talents of furniture from the 1930s. Since 1978, Ecart International has reissued furniture, lighting and heritage objects from the early 20th century, saved from oblivion through the desire to make known these creators who have now become classics: Eileen Gray, Jean-Michel Frank and Adolphe Chanaux, Pierre Chareau, Michel Dufet, Mariano Fortuny…

Andrée Putman is passionate about their work, unearths pieces, restores, reissues, publicizes, develops a highly coherent catalog. In her own words, she will “help them to be reborn. » The furniture reissued by Ecart International, which, half a century earlier, had been rejected for the simplicity of its lines, enjoyed great success and was distributed to a wide audience.

Andrée Putman is not only at the origin of the international recognition of the works of these artists, but she also participates largely in their protection and their heritage.

The manufacturing of all of its seating, furniture and lighting collections is French. The rugs are hand-knotted in Nepal.