Maison tropicale

JEAN PROUVÉ
1901-1984
Jean Prouvé is one of the greatest French designers of the 20th century. Working as a craftsman, designer, manufacturer, architect, teacher and engineer, his career spanned over sixty years. With remarkable elegance and economy of means, he designed prefabricated houses, building components and facades, as well as furniture for the home, office and school. Prouvé believed in the power of design to make a better world and his bold, reduced forms, inspired by the sparse aesthetic of aircraft design, have influenced strongly the British high-tech architects Rogers, Foster and Hopkins.

Born in 1901, Prouvé came rom a highly creative household. His father Victor Prouvé, a painter and sculptor, was a founding member of the Art Nouveau School of Nancy. At the age of 15, Prouvé was appreticed to the artist blacksmith ƒmile Robert in Paris. The hammering and shaping of red-hot wrought iron developed into a total mastery of metal. Prouvé folded, welded, stamped and cut metal into the 20th century, championing its use in the furniture and buildings.
Prouvé died in 1984 having championed and produced practical solutions to the industrial production of architecture and design. His designs are valued today for their fluid, functional beauty, and are much sought after by collectors, but Prouvé is also admired for his drive to develop, not only the aesthetic possibilities of aluminium and steel but also their economic and social applications.
Jean Prouvé Biography
1901 Jean Prouvé, born in Paris
1916-19 Apprenticed to artist blacksmith, Émile Robert
1924 Prouvé opens his own workshop in Nancy
1927 Robert Mallet-Stevens, the avant-garde architect commissions Prouvé to produce an entrance grille for the Villa Reifenberg in Paris
1929-31 Prouvé files his first patents for designs for sheet metal doors, kiosks and lift cages
1931 Prouvé transforms his workshop into a design studio and produces a range of furniture for the student residences at