Cansado mahogany bench by Charlotte Perriand, Steph Simon circa 1960

At the end of the 1950s, Charlotte Perriand was asked to design and furnish the city of Cansado, in Mauritania. This mining town was built to house the staff of the Société des Mines de Fer de Mauritania "MIFERMA" and is organized according to an industrial logic, with three distinct districts, "worker", "supervisors" and executives. In the 1960s, nearly 5,000 people lived in this new town. This rest bench furnished the accommodation of the officers in Cansado. It consists of a black lacquered metal leg, 13 mahogany slats and a storage box covered in gray laminate. The mattress and backrest have been redone in gray wool cloth from Nobilis. Edition: Steph Simon, Circa 1959 - 1967. Bibliography: Jacques Barsac, Charlotte Perriand, Un art d'habiter, 1903-1959, Paris, 2005, page 440 for similar models. François Laffanour, Steph Simon, Retrospective 1956-1974, Paris, 2007