Vintage 'T22C' coffee table by Pierre Chapo, France 1972

Pierre Chapo, coffee table, model T22C, elm, France, circa 1972 This eye-shaped cocktail table by French designer Pierre Chapo (1927-1987) is made of elm. It consists of two tables in the shape of an arch and an oval middle. The table allows the owner to create an individual arrangement as the two tables can be placed separately or pushed together to form one table top. Pierre Chapo (1927-1987) was born into a family of craftsmen and trained as an architect in Paris. After spending many years traveling throughout South and North America, he and his partner Nicole created the Chapo Company, an architectural design and interior design firm. In 1958, they opened their famous gallery at 14 Boulevard de l'Hopital. Chapo's work began with special orders that could then be adapted to universal needs. Chapo was inspired by the balanced lines of Frank Lloyd Wright, Corbusier's research on proportions and the Bauhaus. The Chapo Company was both a design studio and a gallery where Nicole displayed ceramics, textiles and other creations of the great designers of the time. The three principles that motivated Pierre Chapo were "material, form and function". He measured his furniture by the golden ratio and used elm wood as his material of choice.