Sideboard U-452 by Jiri Jiroutek

1960s sideboard restored to its original state and now in optimal condition. Restored means that the construction has been checked, the cabinet has been cleaned and completely sanded and provided with new layers of hard wax oil.

Jiri Jiroutek was a Czech furniture and interior designer who designed his U-450 sideboard series for the Czech furniture manufacturer Interier Praha during the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1958 he was part of the group of designers who exhibited their creations at the world exhibition in Brussels, the first since WWII. The Czechoslovak pavilion, constructed of steel, glass and concrete, was one of the most successful and won many prizes. The designers could not see this success themselves in Brussels because the regime at the time was afraid that they would not return to Czechoslovakia, where they had now nationalized all private companies into communist societies.

Riding the wave of Brussels success, Jiri Jiroutek designed his iconic and timeless U-450 sideboard series that same year, which became the most sought-after sideboard in Eastern Europe for a period of 20 years. It is unknown whether the furniture was also available on our side of the Iron Curtain.

The U-450 series is unique due to the use of pastel colors, new geometric shapes and the use of new materials, which resulted in sleek sideboards made of oak veneer with the characteristic checkered color patterns on drawers and sliding doors.