Pierre Jeanneret’s Easy Chair|The demountable house||
The installation of Jean Prouvé’s newly restored Demountable House and Bally’s collection of furniture by Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret’s Easy Chair were shown in Asia for the first time as they reached the end of their world tour.
Designed in 1944, Jean Prouvé’s 6×9 Demountable House was originally created as an emergency shelter for the inhabitants of the Lorraine region in France displaced by WWII. When Bally acquired this rare early example of prefabricated housing it was very damaged. A 12-person expert team has worked on the house to get it back to pristine condition in time to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the house this year.
“There is a need for manufactured homes. (…) Prefabricated houses, they are the new Dadaism. But why factory made Because it is no longer about just about making one or more small elements of a home to be assembled, but making all the elements correspond to those of a machine that is mounted entirely mechanically, without necessity of producing anything on-site. (…) We must show the public that the manufactured home is a comfortable home, and overcome routine,” Jean Prouvé said.
In 1929, Bally commissioned French modernist architect Mallet Stevens to build its flagship store in Paris and in 1949 Pierre Jeanneret’s cousin, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret – better known as Le Corbusier – was commissioned to envision a new concept for the same Paris store, which was unfortunately never built.
The house and furniture collection debuted at Art Basel in Switzerland and will continue to Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida.
