The Paquebot France Wave Table is presented in 1957.
The first table from that design appears in the sitting room of a private customer, a navigator, which explains its inspiration and later its presence onboard the liner in 1962.That first version is characerized by its elaborate top made of a radiating Macassar ebony marquetry brightened up by ivory coloured boxwood insertions.
The second one is exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs in 1959, surrounded by the Relaxing Armchairs with varnished wooden legs, the Paquebot France Relaxing Armchair coming later with steel legs in the first class main lounge. Its top is made Like the cabinet its top is made as a marquetry of an original material created by Maxime, applying the technology of stratification to canvasses he realized himself.
The third one is made from very clear wild cherry wood for the CCHCI Bank sitting room.
As many projects, as many specific finishing touches: we find again Maxime’s creativity and his will to offer the privilege of a unique piece to each customer. Then the tables are equipped with the “zigzag” base, an inspiration found again in the Paquebot France Iceberg Table.
For the Fontainebleau main lounge of the France ocean-liner
Maxime uses the specific restraints set for a ship to replace the “zigzag” base by the new “radial” base, still made of glass panels. The top is a sun inlaid work, made from teak wood, with an oily look, a wilful reminder of the magnificent decks made of that wood that were then onboard yachts.
The shape of the top must be noticed: it winds and gets narrower and narrower. It is made of two independent parts that can be joined end to end in various ways, with as much success in each position. Some combinations with three and four parts are provided, named: “Swell”, “Beachcomber”, “Billow”, … obviously!
The Paquebot France collection offers all the combinations of the Paquebot France Wave Table, including the two rotating ways named North Hemisphere and South Hemisphere, according to the wind path.
Actual versions of the Paquebot France Wave Table are visible here!
Back to Maxime Old Biography.
