Jules Wabbes Desk in Mutenyé Wood Made for the Foncolin Building Brussels

Jules Wabbes, writing desk from the Foncolin building, mutenyé and nickel-plated metal, Belgium, 1957.

Beautiful designed desk by one of Belgium's most renowned designers Jules Wabbes. This piece is made for the Foncolin building, one of Wabbes first large prestigieus office projects, the piece is recognizable by the exquisite wood-joints on each corner. Wabbes' experimental ways of approaching wood and techniques used during producing his furniture were far ahead for its time. This desk with two drawer compartments is another great example of his style. Executed with a solid mutenyé wooden top made out of sawn slats and a nickel-plated metal frame. Beautiful details are the half-round dovetail joints on the side of each corners. Each of the seven drawers has the signature handle of Wabbes. The difference in height of the drawers creates an interesting and graphical front. Excellent design and high quality desk. This piece has been completely checked and brought back to its original condition in our in-house restoration studio.

Jules Wabbes (1919-1974) was a Belgian furniture designer, architect and professor. He wasn't (as many of his contemporaries) trained as a designer or architect but learned the Craft of designer furniture by sheer necessity. When Wabbes was 24, he opened an antiques shop where some of the furniture was in need of restoration. Therefore, he opened a small workshop where he taught himself how to restore furniture. Alongside restoration he also started to design furniture. His work is aristocratic and modest, and characterized by a sensual use of materials and a clear, almost architectural tectonics. Wabbes developed a line and idiom of its own, averse to the playful and swinging style of many other furniture designs of the postwar period. Wabbes, influenced by American designers such as Edward Wormley, chose to build his furniture with solid wood giving his designs not only a luxurious appearance but also honest, timeless and sophisticated aesthetics.

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