Table and Eight Chairs by Sir Norman Foster

An Innovative Table and Eight Chairs by Sir Norman Foster designed for Renault, 1983.

The rectangular toughened glass top of this table is supported by steel arms with suction cups which converge on a central spine. The A-frame end supports were inspired by the lunar landing module ‘Eagle’. The chairs have moulded G.R.P. bucket seats within steel frames which stack and have handles for linking them together in rows. The underside stamped Herman Miller and dated 1 June 1983.

Provenance: Acquired directly from the Renault Centre by a British Architect for his private collection.

Literature: The design for the present table was based on the working furniture in Foster’s offices and was further developed during his designs for the famous Renault Centre, Swindon, opened in 1983. The Renault Centre has been described as the Foster practice’s most ‘playful’ structure and this table formed part of the original interior which included tables, chairs and workstations incorporating the ‘spine’ and ‘lunar module’ leg concept which closely parallels the articulated structure of the building. The Eames chairs by Herman Miller seemed a perfect choice to compliment the tables and each bear the Miller mark and a date stamp for 1 July 1983, the date when they were installed in the Renault Centre. The iconic design of the tables was later manufactured under license from Foster by Techno of Milan (1988) with minor differences to accommodate larger production scales.

Born in Reddish, Stockport in 1935, Norman Foster studied architecture at Manchester University where he was influenced by Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. He won the Henry Fellowship to Yale School of Architecture where he met his future business partner Richard Rogers. One of the world’s most celebrated architects and designers his work is represented across the globe with buildings such as the Millennium Bridge and Renault Centre in Britain, the Hearst Tower in New York, the Expo MRT Station Singapore and the Metropolitan Building in Warsaw. He was knighted in 1990, appointed to the Order of Merit in 1997 and made a life peer in 1999.