Elephant chair

Created for the CAPC – Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux project in the late 1980s, the Elephant bench was conceived as an integral element of the architecture of its setting. Produced in numerous versions and formats—from single-seat and two-seat models to monumental pieces several meters long—it immediately asserts its vocation to structure space as much as to accommodate the body. It perfectly embodies the spirit of Andrée Putman: an everyday object displaced, reinterpreted, aCreated for the project of the CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux at the end of the 1980s, the Éléphant bench was conceived as an integral element of the building’s architecture. Designed by Andrée Putman, it functions as both furniture and spatial structure, extending the logic of the place itself. Produced in multiple variations and scales—from single-seat and double-seat versions to monumental lengths of several meters—it clearly asserts its dual purpose: to structure space as much as to accommodate the body. It is found in prestigious public environments as well as private interiors, where it introduces a sense of understated modernity and minimalist elegance. The Éléphant bench exemplifies Putman’s ability to transform a utilitarian object into a piece with strong aesthetic presence, where functional design becomes architectural gesture.