Jean Prouvé
The French designer Jean Prouvé was born in 1901. He trained at the Enghien und Szabo metal studio, under the guidance of Emile Robert.
Prouvé established his own metal workshop in 1924, to produce furniture and homewares in sheet steel. The designer and craftsman was also a co-founder of the Union des Artistes Modernes, a group aimed at promoting modern materials and production.
During the Second World War, Prouvé was forced to work with wood, because of the storages of metal. In this material, he continued to create furniture and small architectural forms, which included homeless shelters. After the war, he opened the Maxéville factory to create prefabricated furniture and homes were to be produced.
He later left the company, becoming a lecturer at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, from 1957 and the chairman of the Centre Pompidou architectural competition.
Jean Prouvé achieved the goal of uniting functional requirements, the honest use of materials and economical concerns with the complex demands of mass production.