Ado Chale Lighting
Known to some as “the alchemist of high minerals,” Ado Chale uses semi-precious stones, metals and organic materials like fossilized sequoia and redwoods in his marvelous tables and decorative objects. Over the course of his long career, the prolific Belgian designer, sculptor and decorator turned a passion for mineralogy and love for the natural world into elegant, sculptural furniture.
Born Adolphe Pelsener in Brussels in 1928, the designer learned cabinetry from his woodworker father and trained in ironwork at a young age under local blacksmiths. During a trip to Germany in the late 1950s, he became enamored with minerals, and turned his attention to creating seating, tables and other furnishings with a range of unconventional materials.
At the beginning of the 1960s, Pelsener changed his name to Ado Chale and opened a gallery in Brussels with his wife, a gemologist named Huguette Schaal. He began to create sophisticated mosaic inlays for tabletops using pyrite fragments. He worked with malachite and turquoise and also worked in metal, producing decorative objects and furniture like his iconic aluminum goutte d’eau coffee tables. Chale used epoxy resin to lend his tables an opulent sheen. His incorporation of exquisite natural materials like agate and petrified wood rendered his furniture unlike anything else. Chale’s work was soon in high demand — his clientele included the Belgian royal family and notable architects and designers like Alberto Pinto, Peter Marino and Jacques Grange.
In 1967, Chale’s designs were included in the Universal Exhibition in Montreal. In the decades since, he has continued to exhibit his work, including at the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels in 2017.
On 1stDibs, find a range of vintage Ado Chale tables, lighting and more.
1970s Belgian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ado Chale Lighting
Petrified Wood
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Ado Chale Lighting
Metal
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Ado Chale Lighting
Wood
1970s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ado Chale Lighting
Pine
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Ado Chale Lighting
Metal
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ado Chale Lighting
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Ado Chale Lighting
Lucite, Petrified Wood
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Ado Chale Lighting
Wood
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Ado Chale Lighting
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Ado Chale Lighting
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Asian Ado Chale Lighting
Petrified Wood
1950s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ado Chale Lighting
Teak
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ado Chale Lighting
Brass
1970s Belgian Vintage Ado Chale Lighting
Brass
1960s Belgian Brutalist Vintage Ado Chale Lighting
Rock Crystal, Tourmaline, Brass
