René André Coulon (1908-1997), Armchair, Saint-Gobain Manufactory, France, 1938

In the Saint Gobain pavilion at the Exposition Internationale of 1937 the public discovered the first furniture using the new technique of tempered glass, a process that makes glass more solid and less dangerous if it breaks. René André Coulon, a young architect aged 27 at the time, designed chairs and tables combining modern technology and the spectacular effect of false weightlessness.