Belgian designer and interior designer Maarten Van Severen was a distinctive figure on the international design scene. His work was notable for his intense preoccupation with a few basic types of furniture, such as chairs, tables, chaise lounges, shelves and cabinets, for which he developed basic solutions.
Like Jean Prouvé, Van Severen saw experimentation in the workshop and close physical contact with materials as a vital element of the design process. For this reason, he produced all his designs in the workshop he founded in 1987 until the mid-90s when he started working with industrial partners.
This included the CN° II chair (later .02), launched in 1992. With its simple form, this chair has a seat and backrest crafted from a continuous piece of material (aluminum sheet or thin plywood) placed on aluminum. CN° II laid the foundation for his subsequent collaboration with Vitra to develop the .03 chair, launched in 1998 and marking his international rise as a designer.
