Jiri Jiroutek's chests

Jiri Jiroutek is a Czech designer from Pardubice. In the 1960s, he designed a series of original, easy-to-produce chests for Interier Praha, making them accessible to as many Czechoslovakians as possible at the time.

This ease of production was made possible thanks to a design respecting several constraints. First of all, the individual parts of these chests were manufactured in series. In addition, they were designed to be interchangeable as often as possible from one sideboard to another. This interchangeability has made it possible to produce several models while maintaining the same basic structure. Finally, the number of elements composing these sideboards has been limited to the maximum in order to give them a refined design.

It is surely because of Jiri Jiroutek's desire to design a piece of furniture that is quick to make, that there are only two sizes. The chests he developed measure either H76 x W110 x D45 cm (for the 2-part model) or H76 x W165 x D45 cm (for the 3-part model).

This simplicity is further highlighted in the U-450 model, which has an opening consisting of only two swinging doors.

Although these pieces of furniture are characterized by simplified production, their design is not without interest. Indeed, Jiri Jiroutek has chosen to make certain elements of his chests modular in order to offer the greatest possible number of variations. For example, model U-458 with a series of four drawers and a door, the U-452 sideboard with sliding doors, or model U-453 with a series of eight drawers.

In addition to the various models mentioned above, the Czech designer has created variants by modifying certain parts in order to increase the number of possibilities.

He played with the colour of the wood: some chests of drawers are made of light oak veneer while others are made of stained wood. In the photos below you can see two variants of the U-453 model, the first one in light wood, the second one in dark wood:

Jiri Jiroutek also played on the colour of certain elements: some chests of drawers are characterised by the use of lacquered elements (white, black, pink, yellow). This only concerns drawers and sliding doors. Two versions of the U-452 are shown below. The first one, in light oak, has 2 sliding doors (one pink and one white), the second one has natural wood doors.

Model U-453 is also available with lacquered drawers. In the photos below, you can see 2 variants: the model with white and black drawers and the model with white, black and pink tricolour drawers.

Jiri Jiroutek has also designed several shapes of drawers to dress his chests of drawers.

There are two versions of drawers for natural wood sideboards. This applies to both the U-453 and U-458 models. The photos below show the possibilities offered for model U-458:

The designer also designed two versions of coloured drawers for the U-453 model. The difference is mainly in the position of the handle materialized by a bar: it is either central or positioned in the upper part of the drawer (see photos below).

These same colored drawers also come in yellow. In addition, this allows a myriad of possibilities with a large number of models, such as the U-453 or the U-458 below.

While the colour of the furniture, the shape and the colour of the drawers can be conspicuously different, Jiri Jiroutek has also worked on more discreet variants of these elements. For example, the profile of the drawers sometimes varies from one chest of drawers to another, even though at first glance one might assume that they are identical.

The inside of the drawers also has variations: it can be either moulded plastic or wood. However, only model U-453 with a lacquered front sometimes has drawers made entirely of wood.

The sides that compose these sideboards can be of two different shapes. They are either rounded or square. We have noticed that this variation does not apply to all chest of drawers. The U-458 model made entirely of wood always has square sides, while when this same model has coloured drawers, the sides may be rounded. The U-453 chests of drawers with coloured drawers usually have rounded sides.

These variants are otherwise observed by various finishes, allowing, for certain parts, an improved refinement. This is the case for the models with rounded sides where the track of the sliding doors is made of wood and the interior of mahogany. On the contrary, for a model with square sides, the track is made of plastic and the interior of oak.

The look of the furniture, apart from its components, is primarily determined by the choice of material. Most of the cabinets are made of oak, which is generally noticeable in the U-453 models. Rarely, some are made entirely of mahogany. The wood is no longer simply stained but gives the room a rather sophisticated character.

Jiri Jiroutek has also created variants for the lock. They can be made of metal or plastic. This difference only applies to the U-458 chests of drawers in natural-coloured wood. When the drawers are coloured, the lock is made of metal.

We can mention one last element of this furniture: the base on which the cabinet rests. These are compass legs, generally removable, which exist in three versions. A first version has four legs assembled obliquely by a frame. They are continued by uprights, allowing a better stability. There is also the same type, but smaller, where the legs are closer together. The last version differs somewhat since there are no reinforcements, but simply legs similarly mounted on a frame.

Finally, the models are precisely labeled by the manufacturer. It is interesting to note that the logo of Interier Praha has evolved into a more elaborate form.