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 worked primarily with wood, due to the shortages of metal. He continued to create furniture and small architectural forms, which included homeless shelters. After the war, he opened a factory in Maxéville to create prefabricated furniture and homes.

In 1957 he became a lecturer at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers 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.