Pierre Chapo, the poet of solid elm

Pierre Chapo (1927-1987) made wood his religion. An architect by training and a great traveller from Mexico to Japan, this French designer set up his workshop in Gordes in 1960: a barn lost in Provence where he carved solid elm like one sculpts a belief. His furniture doesn't follow trends, it ignores them. Exposed mortise-and-tenon joints, archaic lines, oil finishes: each piece bears the trace of a hand that thinks as much as it works. A French school unto itself.

The T14 table and S11 'Sahara' chair have become absolute grails of French design. Now elevated to art-piece status in auction rooms, they embody a radical philosophy: do little, do right, make it last. A signature that doesn't go out of style, because it was never in fashion.