Guéridon Cafétéria, 1950
Early in 1950, the prospect of a large order for a university restaurant—the Cafétéria des Arts et Métiers at the Cité Internationale Universitaire, Paris—led to the creation of a round table and chair set with a metal base. The base of the table comprised four tapered bent steel legs, diagonally oriented, slightly cambered, held together by a tubing brace and fitted with round support plates to be screwed to the underside of the laminated wood top. Given the robustness called for by the brief, the top was covered with linoleum and rimmed with aluminum strip. The same solidity was required from the mounting of the brace.1 Thus each leg was traversed by tubes welded at each end: one end was fitted with an exposed cap, the other with a disk allowing for connection to the brace. The underside of each leg was fitted with a stamped plate to which was attached a protective rubber tip. Some twenty examples of this model were supplied to the cafeteria in question and in 1951 it appeared for the first time in the Ateliers Jean Prouvé catalog as Cafétéria, with the same detailing and a top in three different sizes.2 At the same time work on special projects3 led to the development of variants. One result was that the Cafétéria base with exposed caps was sometimes combined with a square, laminated wood top covered with plastic and edged (or not) with aluminum strip. Although not mentioned in the catalogs and price lists, this model was made at the Maxéville factory (A.C.P.M./Studal) until 1958.4 Another variant had more markedly cambered legs with a larger brace, supporting a square, laminated wood top covered with laminated plastic.5 In addition, a pull-out bent aluminum service under-tray was set on the X-shaped brace. Marketed as no. 511, this model was sold from 1953 onwards by Steph Simon, who later produced it. Several examples were also produced of an all-aluminum version of no. 511. This reflected the policy of increased use of aluminum instituted in 1953 and applied to a number of items—chairs in particular—using the same types of mounting for aluminum tubing and sheet.
1. This mounting system was later used for the metal base S.A.M. (dining) tables no. 503 and no. 506 and the guéridon haut table with three metal legs no. 405 and no. 406.
2. The same diameters as the tops for the three-leg wood version GH 11: 80, 95 and 120 cm.
3. Prototype for M. Bodocher, architect; dining table for the Bieth plant at Meaux (1951).
4. It was notably used for the dining room at the Centre de Réadaptation Fonctionnelle in Nancy (architects R. Lamoise and R. Malot, 1956–1957).
5. A January 1953 price list specifies “Luterma top” for an identical model called no. 409 (Ateliers Jean Prouvé, Wholesale price list, Métropole).