René Gabriel

Gabriel started out printing wallpaper and spent the 1920s and 1930s as a decorative artist across the Paris salons. What he is remembered for came later. In 1944 the Ministry of Reconstruction commissioned him to design furniture for families bombed out of their homes, and he worked with Auguste Perret on furnishing the rebuilt Le Havre.

The result was the meubles de reconstruction: plain oak, visible joinery, nothing applied, built to be made in quantity and sold cheaply. Editions Lieuvin produced the RG-numbered models. He ran the furniture workshop at the Arts Décoratifs from 1946 and taught Pierre Guariche among others before dying in 1950 at fifty-one.

France's prize for affordable design still carries his name. The furniture itself sits undervalued next to his students' work, and the oak has darkened well.