Belgian designer and interior architect Maarten Van Severen was an idiosyncratic figure on the international design scene. His work was noted for its intense engagement with a few basic furniture types, such as the chair, table, chaise longue, shelving and cabinet, for which he developed fundamental solutions.Like Jean Prouvé, Van Severen regarded his experiments in the workshop and his close physical contact with the materials tBelgian designer and interior architect Maarten Van Severen was an idiosyncratic figure on the international design scene. His work was distinguished by his intense commitment to several basic types of furniture, such as chair, table, chaise longue, bookcase and cabinet, for which he developed fundamental solutions. Like Jean Prouvé, Van Severen considered his experiments in the workshop and close physical contact with materials an essential part of the design process. This was the reason why, until the mid-1990s, when he began working with industrial partners, he produced all his designs in the workshop he founded in 1987. This included the CNº II chair (later .02), introduced in 1992. Characterized by simplicity of form, this chair has a seat and back made of a continuous piece of material - a sheet of aluminum or thin plywood - set on an aluminum base.