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SUPER-ELLIPSE TABLES
design Piet Hein, Bruno Mathsson et Arne Jacobsen, 1968
True classic of Scandinavian design, the Super-Ellipse Table is famous for its clipped metal legs, designed by the Swedish architect and designer Bruno Mathsson, and for the shape of its tabletop, designed by the Danish poet and scientist Piet Hein: an ellipse with rounded ends, fruit of a mathematical formula which he had developed to make the car flow easier at Sergels Torg, in Stockholm.
This variant of the oval has various interesting qualities, such as its proportions, which remain harmonious whatever the size, and the egalitarian status that it gives to the people seated around it. Thanks to it, the Super-Ellipse Table is friendly, aesthetic and economical in place within a room.
The Super-Ellipse Table is now equipped with a revolutionary material, Fenix, an extra strong laminate, with soft and warm contact, almost impossible to scratch and infinitely regenerable (like the eponymous bird): stripes are erased with an iron.
Height 74 cm
Length from 100 to 300 cm depending of the model
Width from 80 to 130 cm depending of the model
Legs chromed steel or powder-coated steel (white, black, nine grey, silver grey, brown bronze, warm graphite)
Tabletop Fenix laminate (+ aluminium edge) or walnut veneer
chrome
silver grey
nine grey
white
brown bronze
warm graphite
black
The Super-Ellipse table is available in walnut veneer and Fenix laminate. Revolutionary material, Fenix is an extra hard laminate with a soft and warm touch, almost impossible to scratch and infinitely regenerable (like the eponymous bird): the scratches can be erased with a simple iron.
Fenix - white
Fenix - black
Fenix - grey
Fenix - Efeso grey
Fenix - Bromo grey
Fenix - Ottawa brown
Piet Hein
Piet Hein (1905-1996) was a an architect, a mathematician and a poet. He was a real master of Science and Art, and he made Danish cultural life a little richer, a little prettier and a little more spiritual with his branded line, square head and quirky language. A rare ability to bring together poetry, geometry and design in harmony, where function and art have the same importance.
These are the characteristics we know from Piet Hein and this is what shows up in each of his design products, from furniture to games and lighting. All are inspired by the spirit of Piet Hein and created from the best materials, with the greatest attention to detail.
Bruno Mathsson
Bruno Mathsson was born in 1907 in Värnamo, Sweden. His father, Karl, a fourth generation master cabinetmaker, introduced his son to new technologies applied to wood very early on. Mathsson, a self-taught designer and architect, inspired by the functionalist movement, and, following in his family's footsteps, spent much of the 1920’s and 1930’s studying the functional capabilities of wood.
Mathsson's furniture is made to have curves and height, and is thus designed to ensure a certain functionality and ergonomics. He exhibited a collection of bentwood furniture at the Universal Exhibition of 1937 in Paris, thus launching his international reputation. Her Eva Chair (later called Work Chair) was purchased for public spaces in the run-up to the opening of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1939, he exhibited at the New York World's Fair, and strengthened his popularity in the United States. In the 1950’s he turned his attention to architecture, often later incorporating large glass pieces into residential projects. The 1960’s allowed him to refocus on furniture and thus to embark on the work of tubular steel. He collaborated remarkably with Piet Hein, a Danish mathematician, to create the Super Ellipse Table, which rests on slender legs giving the impression that the table is hovering in the air.
Arne Jacobsen
Arne Jacobsen was born on February 11, 1902 in Copenhagen. His father, Johan Jacobsen, is a wholesale trader in safety pins and snap fasteners. His mother, Pouline Jacobsen, a bank clerk, paints floral motifs in her spare time. The family lived in a typical Victorian style home. As a contrast to his parents’ overly decorated taste, Arne paints his room in white.
Background & school relations
He met the Lassen brothers at Nærum Boarding School: later, Flemming Lassen was to become his partner in a series of architectural projects. Arne Jacobsen is a restless pupil, always up to pranks, with a self-deprecating humour. Already as a child, he showed an extraordinary talent for drawing and depicting nature through scrupulous studies. He wants to be painter, but his father felt that architect was a more sensible choice.
The Pleasant and the necessary trips abroad
Jacobsen’s travelling begin already in his twenties, when he went to sea to New York. Then followed an apprenticeship as a bricklayer in Germany and a series of study and drawing excursions to Italy. Jacobsen produced some of his finest watercolours during this period, capturing atmospheres and shapes accurately and carefully. From the beginning of his career, Jacobsen turned his gaze abroad, without abandoning Danish traditions.
Arne Jacobsen behind the design
Jacobsen production reflects his personality: an insistent, perfectionist modernist, to whom no detail was trivial, although the main picture was basically black/white and unambiguous. On the other hand, the nature-loving botanist and jovial family man: like him, his work is precise and warm, Danish and universal, modern and timeless.