This Métropole no. 305 chair, lacquered in a metallic green, was designed by JEAN PROUVÉ around 1950.
Featuring a rare and elegant color, fully original, this chair reveals a remarkable patina that enhances this iconic and timeless model.
The Métropole chair embodies the fruits of Prouvé’s research into creating a chair that was both light and robust.Developed by the Ateliers Jean Prouvé in 1950, this new version of the “semi-metallic” chairs – metal frame, wooden seat – merged the principles of the prewar metal-framed chair no. 4 with the mounting systems of earlier wooden models. The frame featured two “uniform strength” pressed steel rear uprights, welded to curved tubes forming the front legs, with braces reinforcing the structure.
Put on the market a few months after the knockdown model (Cafétéria no. 300), the Métropole no. 305 introduced innovative methods for attaching metal components: a tubular brace connected the pressed steel rear uprights, to whose interior the tubes of the front legs were welded. The frame was notched to receive the backrest— fixed to welded plates with Parker screws and brass or aluminum studs—and the rear of the plywood seat, which slipped into a slot. The protective plugs for the legs were inserted into the metal uprights. The molded plywood components were varnished and the metal parts oven lacquered.
The Métropole no. 305 chair is one of the finest examples of Prouvé’s vision for industrialized production. Examples of this emblematic chair are notably part of the collections of major museums, such as the MoMa in New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
