ceramic tiles coffee table by roger capron.

Roger Capron, born in 1922, studied applied arts in Paris. In 1946, after a short period of teaching, he went to the south of France and opened his first studio ‚Wallis‘ in the town of Vallauris, a center for ceramics production since the Middle Ages. Until 1950, he produced his poetically exaggerated sculptures of women and animals, as well as vases, lamps and other everyday objects. 

When Pablo Picasso moved to Vallauris for 7 years in 1948, Capron and Picasso became friends. The impulses that Picasso brought with him were also freely taken up by many young ceramicists in Vallauris, particularly with regard to new firing techniques and glazes. 

Capron’s Poterie du Font des Horts was opened in 1952. Conceptually guided by the idea of well-designed serial products, as propagated by the Bauhaus, he set up a series production line together with his employees. In 1955, he married Jacqueline „Jacotte“ Hubin, an art school graduate, who quickly became his closest collaborator and concentrated primarily on the color schemes in the studio. During this time, „Les Capron“ also made a name for itself internationally with its production of ceramic furniture and art objects. The gold medal at the X. Triennale in Milan and other awards acknowledged this and helped becoming a real „brand“. Capron can also be found in architecture, e.g. in Cannes, where he designed a harbor building in 1958, which was followed by commissions for the Théâtre de Nîmes, the Hôtel Byblos in St. Tropez etc. etc. 

The New York Times described Roger Capron as „one of the most prolific and important craftsmen of post-war Europe“. Together with his wife Jacotte, he co-invented the aesthetic of the 1950s in Vallauris, which drew on the ceramic tradition of the Mediterranean. 

Today, there is a small, fine ceramics museum in Vallauris, where you can see large wall reliefs made of tiles by Jacotte and Roger Capron alongside lots of Picasso’s works and other artists.

a beautiful detailed, slightly oval coffee table. The ceramic top rests on an unconventionally constructed wooden frame. this unique piece is signed by the designer in one of the outer tiles.   

please note that this coffee table is in used condition. There are signs of age and use visible on the wood base as well as on the tiles.