Jean Prouvè

Jean Prouvé was born in Paris in April 1901 and passed away in Nancy in March 1984. He was a self-taught French architect, engineer and designer who became one of the most important and decisive designers of the twentieth century. His career started early in a blacksmith's workshop and later he opened his own at the beginning of the 1920s.

Surrounded by artists and a lively and creative context since childhood, Jean Prouvé was one of the first to devote himself to prefabricated metal structures becoming a mentor and collaborator of some of the most important architects and designers of the era, including the well-known names of Charlotte Perriand, Le Corbusier, Yona Friedman and several others. In the years following the opening of his workshop, he developed countless projects for furniture ranging from tables and chairs, to lamps and furnishing accessories of all kinds and then opened his own factory in 1947.

Jean Prouvè is today considered one of the greatest exponents of design in the last century, able to make art easily accessible, creating links between industrial manufacturing and art using the latter to stimulate social awareness. Since 2002, Vitra has begun to re-edition Jean Prouvè’s most significant projects, transforming them outright into true icons now known and coveted the world over.