The desk was designed in 1966 for the construction and relocation of the Peugeot headquarters to Avenue de la Grande Armée in Paris. At that time Ben Swildens collaborated with Max Ingrand, the great French designer of the 50′s and the 60′s who carried out this project with the contribution of architects Louis, Luc and Thierry Sainsaulieu. Three models of the desk were produced for the reception assistants. The Croiseau workshop in Paris made these desks.
During the last several decades, the three 1966 models reappeared regularly at auctions and design fairs at the Louvre des Antiquaires in Paris (1985), at Phillips de Pury auction house in London (1989) at Sothebys in New-York (2006), and at the Sebastian Barquet gallery in New-York (2007). The desk has also been presented at the 2006 contemporary art fair in Miami.
Furdess was created by Elsa and Grégory Maitre, two people passionately fond of contemporary design, with the aim of creating exceptional furniture. While looking for an important piece to reproduce, they came across a collector who told them of his love at first sight for a desk exhibited at the Louvre des Antiquaires 25 years ago. Though he had not been able to buy it then (it cost almost as much as a small apartment in Paris), the memory of the desk has never left him.
Research began, and the founders of Furdess were enraptured by this amazing desk, its inalterable modernity, the image of stainless steel of which it is made. They managed to find the designer, Ben Swildens, and they meet in his Paris studio. In a week the decision was made, new life will be given to this desk whose simple but ingenious design certainly makes it one of the most beautiful desks ever produced.
source : furdess.com
