Ado Chale Furniture
Known to some as “the alchemist of high minerals,” Ado Chale uses semi-precious stones, metals and organic materials like fossilized sequoia and redwoods in his marvelous tables and decorative objects. Over the course of his long career, the prolific Belgian designer, sculptor and decorator turned a passion for mineralogy and love for the natural world into elegant, sculptural furniture.
Born Adolphe Pelsener in Brussels in 1928, the designer learned cabinetry from his woodworker father and trained in ironwork at a young age under local blacksmiths. During a trip to Germany in the late 1950s, he became enamored with minerals, and turned his attention to creating seating, tables and other furnishings with a range of unconventional materials.
At the beginning of the 1960s, Pelsener changed his name to Ado Chale and opened a gallery in Brussels with his wife, a gemologist named Huguette Schaal. He began to create sophisticated mosaic inlays for tabletops using pyrite fragments. He worked with malachite and turquoise and also worked in metal, producing decorative objects and furniture like his iconic aluminum goutte d’eau coffee tables. Chale used epoxy resin to lend his tables an opulent sheen. His incorporation of exquisite natural materials like agate and petrified wood rendered his furniture unlike anything else. Chale’s work was soon in high demand — his clientele included the Belgian royal family and notable architects and designers like Alberto Pinto, Peter Marino and Jacques Grange.
In 1967, Chale’s designs were included in the Universal Exhibition in Montreal. In the decades since, he has continued to exhibit his work, including at the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels in 2017.
On 1stDibs, find a range of vintage Ado Chale tables, lighting and more.
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Period: 1980s
Creator: Ado Chale
Huge Bronze sphere by Ado Chale mid modern century
By Ado Chale
Located in Bruxelles, BE
Ado Chale’s Bronze Sphere
This captivating bronze sphere, a testament to the artistic genius of Ado Chale, exudes timeless elegance. Crafted with meticulous attention to detail, it ...
Category
1980s Belgian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ado Chale Furniture
Materials
Bronze
1980s Pastilles Illuminating Coffee table by Ado Chale
By Ado Chale
Located in Paris, FR
Ado Chale
‘‘Pastilles’’ illuminated coffee table, 1983
Mosaic of cornaline agate stones and resin
H. 35 x 150ø cm
Son of a woodworker, Ado Chale spent his formative years in the Belgian countryside and began working with metal at a young age, training initially as an iron-worker. In the 1950s, he began working with sheet metal on which he would test various methods of printing with enamel. However, it was on a trip to Germany that he found his true passion: mineralogy. Stones, precious and semi-precious as well as fossils and other natural minerals, became the focal point of his self-taught artistic path.
In 1961, Chale opened a mineral shop in Brussels where he showed his first creations featuring inclusions of marcasite, a dark stone he discovered on the beaches of the Cape of Blanc- Nez in northern France. By 1965, these creations had garnered significant attention and he began to widen the range of his creations. He began working with a great variety of stones and fossilized wood and developing new techniques, one of the most remarkable of which is featured in the ‘‘Pastilles’’ coffee table: the integration of light.
Noticing the transformation of certain stones when lit from a certain angle, Chale aimed to demonstrate the delicate details that remained hidden without this illumination. With this objective in mind, he began integrating lighting systems beneath the mosaic tops of his coffee tables, a rare technique of which Chale was a true pioneer. Beyond the striking effect achieved through the illumination of his tables, Chale’s mastery in mosaic resulted in truly unique tabletops - no two mosaics exactly the same.
Over the years, Chale’s creations found their way into some of the world’s most prestigious collections, both private and public, including those of the British royal family, the King of Saudi Arabia, Belgium’s King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola, and Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of Ado Chale’s creation, an occasion celebrated with a landmark exhibition at the Galerie Yves Gastou.
Category
1980s Belgian Futurist Vintage Ado Chale Furniture
Materials
Agate
20th Century Turquoise mosaic and lacquer table by Ado Châle
By Ado Chale
Located in Ramillies, BE
A turquoise mosaic coffee table designed and produced by Ado Chale, Brussels, Belgium, 1980s.
Wooden feets.
Category
1980s Belgian Modern Vintage Ado Chale Furniture
Materials
Multi-gemstone
Ado Chale Circular Coffee Table Black Resin and Petrified Wood
By Ado Chale
Located in Brussels, BE
Ado Chale circular coffee table black resin and Arizona petrified wood, circa 1980, signed by the artist. Very good condition.
Category
1980s Belgian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ado Chale Furniture
Materials
Stone
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Previously Available Items
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Ado Chale Signed Little Bronze Sculpture Paperweight
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Bronze Bowl by Ado Chale, France, 1980s
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Ado Chale furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
Ado Chale furniture are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of metal and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Ado Chale furniture, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original furniture by Ado Chale were created in the mid-century modern style in europe during the 20th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider furniture by Jean Claude Dresse, Lova Creations, and Etienne Allemeersch. Prices for Ado Chale furniture can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $2,943 and can go as high as $105,000, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $28,538.