Jean Prouvé, born in Paris, France, in 1901, trained as an art metalworker with Émile Robert in Enghien and with Szabo in Paris.
In 1924, he opened his own workshop in Nancy and, as early as 1925, produced his first furniture made of folded sheet steel. In 1930, he co-founded the artists' association "Union des Artistes Modernes" (U.A.M.), and in 1931 he founded "Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé". During the 1930s, numerous pieces of furniture were made there, as well as the first prefabricated architectural elements – for example for the "Maison du Peuple" in Clichy (in collaboration with the architects Beaudouin and Lods), which caused a stir with its steel and glass construction.
During the war, steel shortages meant that furniture was made of wood, and simple prefabricated houses were developed. Jean Prouvé was a member of the Résistance from 1940 and, after the liberation of Nancy, became the city's mayor, designing and building houses for the homeless. In 1947, Jean Prouvé set up the Maxéville factory, where 200 employees produced furniture as well as prefabricated houses and schools on 25,000 m². To meet growing demand, a dedicated furniture division was created in 1949, with Steph Simon handling exclusive distribution. In 1953, after disputes with the majority shareholder, Jean Prouvé left the company, and in 1954 he designed and built his own house.
From 1957 to 1968, he headed the construction department of the Compagnie Industrielle de Matériel de Transport (CIMT) in Paris, and from 1968 to 1984 he ran his own office in Paris as an independent consulting engineer. From 1957 to 1970, he held a professorship at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM). In 1971, he chaired the jury for the Centre Pompidou competition in Paris and played a decisive role in the selection of Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers' design. From 1980 to 1984, Jean Prouvé devoted himself to developing his furniture designs further. He died in Nancy in 1984.
In many of his works, Jean Prouvé succeeded in reconciling his standards of functionality, truth to materials and economy with the complex demands of series production. In 2002, in close collaboration with the Prouvé family, Vitra began reissuing designs by the great constructor.
