Jules Wabbes for Mobilier Universel Console in Mahogany

Jules Wabbes for Mobilier Universel, console, solid mahogany, aluminum, Belgium, 1960s

This console is designed by Belgian designer Jules Wabbes and produced by Mobilier Universel in the 1960s. The console table features a substantial wooden top made of rectangular-shaped sawn slats in solid mahogany, and is supported by an aluminum base. The design is marked by its straightforward, honest display of structural elements: the split metal legs, the round supportive feet, and the horizontal beams. Wabbes' approach to design was driven by a pursuit of perfection in both construction and material use, with nothing concealed and every component intentionally visible. This meticulous attention to detail means that his creations can stand freely in a room, with the same care given to every side, top, and bottom. The design showcases Wabbes' exceptional dedication to craftsmanship and his ability to merge form with function effortlessly. Its clean lines and precise proportions make it a true masterpiece of modernist furniture design, which remains as relevant and admired today as it was when it was first conceived.

Mobilier Universel had the sole right to produce furniture for Dunbar. Jules Wabbes, at that time still very much involved with Mobilier Universel picked the desired models designed by Edward Wormley for manufacturing. The designs that Wabbes choose from Wormley's collection were those that featured simplistic, clean lines that would prove to be timeless.

Jules Wabbes (1919-1974) was one of the leading Belgian furniture designers and interior architects of the Postwar period. Born in Brussels in 1919, he began his career as an actor. However, after several other professions, he eventually started to become interested in antiques. When Wabbes was 24, he opened an antiques shop where some of the furniture needed restoration. Therefore, he created a small workshop where he taught himself how to restore furniture. Therefore, in contrast to many of his contemporaries, he wasn't trained as a designer or architect but learned the craft of designing furniture by sheer necessity. Alongside restoration, he also started to design furniture. Because of the success of his ventures, it led to Wabbes designing many interiors for his clients. In 1971, Wabbes became professor at the Sint-Lucasinstituut in Brussels. Unfortunately, Wabbes died at an early age in 1974 due to cancer.

Overall, 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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