Wardrobe, 1945
The first entirely metal closets turned out by the Ateliers Jean Prouvé in the early 1930s were especially intended for hospitals and sanatoriums. The metal doors, whether single or double, used the advanced pivot-tube opening system, patented in 1929. In addition to the levels of safety, durability and hygiene required by the briefs, a concern with comfort and aesthetics is evident in the use of double-thickness sheet and the contrast between the painted surfaces and the polished aluminum (Duralumin) base. When intended for office use, this type of closet was most often combined with movable dividers; these latter followed the principle established during the equipping of the CPDE offices in Paris in 1934, and elaborated on after the War, for the Centre de chèques postaux, Brussels.1 The models made in response to special orders during the War were the basis for demountable storage furniture developed from 1 944 onwards for the domestic market. Closets and sideboards with sliding doors were designed at the same time and using the same system: a sheet metal structure with wooden top, bottom, and doors, mounted on tube legs welded to equal strength side members. The base and its assemblage on cross-pieces underwent successive modifications,2 but the structural principle remained unchanged: two vertical, pressed steel sides with grooves into which were slotted shelf racks, these sides then extended by angle returns holding the plywood back. The metal parts were fixed to the top and bottom with threaded rod and wing nuts; these tie-rods ensured overall rigidity, which was further enhanced by a central metal divider and by the vertical, solid wood handles used on doors sliding in top and bottom grooves. Initially entirely designed for shelving, a closet with hanging-space and drawers (AG 12) went into mass production in 1949. This model served as a point of departure for variations in which some of the wooden parts were replaced by metal: one example was the wardrobe no. 101, all of whose components were aluminum with the exception of the steel base, the stiffener-handles and the solid wood runners. The metal parts were either painted or left bare, the latter especially in the case of surfaces made of granite-type or “diamond-point” embossed aluminum. The arrival of the built-in cupboard in 1951 did not affect output of the small wardrobe, of which 150 were made in that year: five times more than the large model, which was finally abandoned. Like the cabinet, whose structural principle was similar, the wood and metal or all-metal closet was delivered in kit form, to be assembled by the customer with a screwdriver and detailed instructions.
1. See Sulzer, vol. 3, no. 1043 and 1101.4.
2. In the case of the earliest models, these took the form of 4 tubes with inverted cup feet welded to 4 small, and later 2 large crosspieces; followed by 2 bent steel front legs slotted into the crosspiece and 2 tube legs at the back; and from 1949, 4 bent steel legs (“metal shoes”) welded two by two and screwed to the back of the crosspieces; after 1953 these were replaced, on certain items, by the 50-mm tube legs with wooden tips used on the SCAL bed.