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A56 chair by Jean Pauchard for Tolix

Bring a little French bistro chic to your garden with Pauchard's iconic chair...

Pauchard chair - design classic
In 1907, Frenchman Xavier Pauchard succeeded in protecting sheet metal from rust by dipping it into molten zinc. Galvanisation was born, and with it a new industry.

The alchemist of zinc's Tolix factory in Burgundy produced many household items, including the 1934 A chair. In 1956, his son Jean gave the chair a slimmer frame and renamed it A56.

Its success lies in its practicality, ideally suited to bistro culture: 25 stacked chairs stand only 2.3m high. The chairs mark a crucial stage in the story of design. As Terence Conran says, 'They symbolise democratic excellence, a mass-produced object that is universally accessible – in a word, social.'

Stockist: A56 chair, £115, available from The Conran Shop.