Set of Six French Brutalist Wood and Rattan Dining Chairs, circa 1950

This striking set of six French brutalist dining chairs, in solid wood and rattan and dating to circa 1950, represents one of the most desirable categories of postwar French furniture: the anonymous artisanal production of the immediate postwar years, characterised by an uncompromising directness of form and an honest, even raw, treatment of natural materials. This tendency in French design, often described as brutalist, rejected the decorative refinements of earlier furniture traditions in favour of structures that expressed their materials and construction without concealment.

Each chair is built around a solid wood frame whose joinery is visible and unadorned, combined with rattan woven into the seat and back—a marriage of hard and yielding materials that provides both structural rigour and tactile warmth. The tall back, at over a metre in height, gives each chair an architectural presence beyond its functional purpose, transforming a simple dining chair into a sculptural statement. As a set of six, the impact is considerable.

The mid-century French brutalist aesthetic, explored by craftsmen across France in the decade following the Liberation, has enjoyed a significant revival of interest among collectors and interior designers. Sets of six chairs in this tradition are particularly sought after, offering practical utility—sufficient for a full dining table—combined with the expressive formal power of objects conceived as much to be looked at as to be sat upon.

A remarkable and cohesive set in good vintage condition. W. 45.5 × D. 49 × H. 107.5 cm each.