Michel Cadestin, the Centre Pompidou armchair

Michel Cadestin (born 1942) is one of the French designers most identified with the Centre Pompidou. In 1977, when the Parisian museum designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers opened, he signed with Georges Laurent the Polypropylène armchair for Beaubourg: a stackable seat in moulded plastic, with a chromed tubular structure, designed to withstand the massive footfall of the new temple of contemporary art. The piece became, without anyone realising, one of the most-sat-on chairs in France, and one of the silent signatures of French industrial design.

The Polypropylène armchair for Beaubourg, in moulded plastic and chromed steel, remains Michel Cadestin's signature piece. A vintage French seat to find for those wanting an archive piece of French institutional design from the Seventies.