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Standard desk, 1941

Standard BS 21 desk with wood drawers with sheet metal handles, 1946.

Standard BS 21 desk with wood drawers with sheet metal handles, 1946. © Galerie Patrick Seguin.

Standard BS 21 desk, 1946. View in the workshop, ca. 1948.

Standard BS 21 desk, 1946. View in the workshop, ca. 1948. © Fonds Jean Prouvé. Centre Pompidou – MNAM/CCI-Bibliothèque Kandinsky-Dist. RMN-Grand Palais.

“Standard Desks, registered model.” Ateliers Jean Prouvé drawing no. 8975, January 1942, by J. M. Glatigny.

“Standard Desks, registered model.” Ateliers Jean Prouvé drawing no. 8975, January 1942, by J. M. Glatigny. © Fonds des Ateliers Jean Prouvé, Archives départementales de Meurthe-et-Moselle.

Jean Prouvé’s office at Maxéville, ca. 1948, furnished with Visiteur FV 12 armchairs and a Standard BS desk, later replaced by a Présidence desk.

Jean Prouvé’s office at Maxéville, ca. 1948, furnished with Visiteur FV 12 armchairs and a Standard BS desk, later replaced by a Présidence desk. © Fonds Jean Prouvé. Centre Pompidou – MNAM/CCI-Bibliothèque Kandinsky-Dist. RMN-Grand Palais.

Standard BS 21 desk. Typing and accountancy office, Ferembal building, Nancy, ca. 1970.

Standard BS 21 desk. Typing and accountancy office, Ferembal building, Nancy, ca. 1970. © Collection privée.

Standard BS Desk, 1942. Provenance: Berger-Levrault printing works, Nancy.

Standard BS Desk, 1942. Provenance: Berger-Levrault printing works, Nancy. © Galerie Patrick Seguin.

Standard BS Desk, 1942. Provenance: Berger-Levrault printing works, Nancy.

Standard BS Desk, 1942. Provenance: Berger-Levrault printing works, Nancy. © Galerie Patrick Seguin.

Standard BS Desk, curved variant, 1942.

Standard BS Desk, curved variant, 1942. © Galerie Patrick Seguin.

Standard desk, 1941

During the War, the Ateliers Jean Prouvé honed the design of a number of desks aimed mainly at the industrial market. Two kinds of bent steel frames were developed simultaneously, one drawing on the CPDE-type desk, notably for a secretary’s desk, and the other radically different: two tapering frames connected by one or two axial braces and supporting a cantilevered top with interchangeable fittings on runners. Adopted in 1942, the defining principle of the Standard desk established the joining of the two “portal frames” with a visible, uniform strength open crosspiece on the visitor’s side and, on the user’s side, a flush or welded crosspiece set away from the feet. Two optional lateral profiles strengthen the frame and hold the compartments for the fittings. These compartments, made of metal or wood and metal, house the various combinations of drawers, filing drawers and telephone tray. The top is made of oak or Comblanchien limestone. One particularly elegant variant that first appeared in 1943 had a curved top and frame sometimes larger than the standard sizes. After the War, the straight or curved Standard desk (BS) continued to be made in parallel with the new BM and BDM metal models, with an increasing use of metal extending, sometimes, to stainless steel shoes. After 1952 the all-metal version was mainly produced in the form of the curved model.