Prouvé's Standard Chair: the engineer against the copyists
The folded sheet steel of 1934, produced by Vitra. Why the hollow rear leg is almost impossible to copy properly.
1 MIN · 3 OBJECTS IDENTIFIEDJean Prouvé thought like an engineer: on a chair, all the strain passes through the rear legs. His Standard, 1934, produced by Vitra, gives them boxes of folded sheet steel — and that is precisely what the copies fail to reproduce.
Folded sheet steel, a technical signature
The rear legs of the original are hollow volumes, tapered, with crisp folds and welds made invisible once lacquered. The copies replace them with clad bent tubing or thick, badly finished sheet metal: the profile turns soft, the edges round off, and the object loses exactly what defines it.
The production details
Seat and back in wood (oak or beech) or in plastic on the SP version, discreet fixings, a Vitra colour range drawn from Prouvé's own palette. Vitra marking under the seat. Period vintage — Ateliers Jean Prouvé — plays in another league: this is the collectors' market, five figures.
The prices
Around €600-900 new at Vitra depending on the version. The copies are listed at €150-350. In between, very little: the Standard is an object whose value lies in the making, not in the silhouette.
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The pieces, at your budget.
Every piece mentioned, with its alternatives — from vintage to dupe.
Where to find Vitra
At the house itself, or at the retailer that stocks it.
Gallery
5 images
