Two-Drawer Shelves by Marcel Gascoin, Arhec, 1947

Name: Two-Drawer Shelves by Marcel Gascoin, Arhec, 1947
Brand: Marcel Gascoin
Price: 6871.46 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Two-drawer shelf by Marcel Gascoin, ARHEC, 1947 Two-drawer Shelf created by Marcel Gascoin edited by ARHEC in 1947. This shelf is made from Oak wood. Presented in the UAM pavilion during the 1937 International Exhibition, the wall shelves on racks were used extensively by Marcel Gascoin. Playing on their freedom of arrangement, he invented modular storage walls where single, double or drawer shelves could be placed, as well as glass elements or a wall desk. The combination on racks allows for height adjustment; it gives the possibility (before consumer loans were commonplace) to equip themselves with successive purchases. (extract from "Marcel Gascoin, design utile" 2011) Marcel Gascoin was born in Le Havre, in the Perrey district, on 27 August 1907. Born into a family of sailors - his father was the head of a workshop in a practical school, in the carpentry section - he followed in his father's footsteps and became a carpenter and cabinetmaker by attending the applied arts section at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Le Havre, and then the Ecole nationale supérieure des Arts décoratifs in Paris. There he met Henri Sauvage, who encouraged him to focus on modern furniture. From then on, as he put it, he would adapt the container to the content. Recommended by Robert Mallet-Stevens in 1930, he participated in the exhibition of the Union des artistes modernes. Four years later, he participated in a competition to design a boat cabin, which led to his meeting with Jean Prouvé, with whom he would work. From 1938 onwards, he took part in the Salon des Arts Ménagers and created a line of storage units with a particular design, which the war was to bring to a standstill in France, but which found an echo in Scandinavian countries. In the aftermath of the war, his links with Raoul Dautry and Claudius Petit, the ministers in charge of reconstruction, enabled him to play an important role in the production of space-saving furniture, adapting techniques tried and tested in boat cabins to save even more space and in social production. In 1947, he became curator of the International Exhibition of Urbanism and Housing. He coordinated the development of model flats (Sotteville-Lès-Rouen) and met the architect, Marcel Lods. It was also during this period of reconstruction of destroyed cities that Marcel Gascoin and his collaborators saw their ideas prevail by adapting to the greatest number of people, for the mass production of flats (model flat in Le Havre - Architect Auguste Perret). Although associated with brands such as Airborne and Coméra, he still had to impose himself by creating the Aménagement rationnel de l'habitation (between 1948 and 1950) which became Aménagement rationnel de l'habitation et des collectivités (ARHEC) (between 1950 and 1955). In 1952, in close collaboration with René-Jean Caillette, he created the Association des Créateurs de Meubles de Série (ACMS), whose aim was to conquer a share of the large distribution networks already in place. It was also during this period (between 1952 and 1955) that Marcel Gascoin approached the Le Havre-based company Loison, which specialised in marine furniture, to develop its production range. From 1960 onwards, although he was very present at the Salon des Arts Ménagers and remained at the forefront of mass-produced furniture, he put forward the work of his collaborators and the young designers he had trained in his workshops. He died on 29 October 1986 in Paris. He remains the main bearer of a French design that emerged after the Second World War, with the reconstruction of destroyed cities.

Creator:

Marcel Gascoin (Designer)

Dimensions:

Height: 25.6 in (65 cm)Width: 30.32 in (77 cm)Depth: 9.45 in (24 cm)

Materials and Techniques:

Oak

Place of Origin:

France

Period:

1950-1959

Date of Manufacture:

1947