The accomplishments of French designer Jean Prouvé are as vast as they are significant, both at the time of their invention as well as in modern-day practices. Self-taught in architecture and with a profound understanding of engineering, he sought building and design solutions that were a product of their time, yet simultaneously years ahead.
Over the coming days, an exhibition, the 2023 Vitra International Roadshow which is dedicated to his life’s work, will open at The Grist, within The Brewhouse in Imriehel.
The event is hosted by Vivendo – the local partner of Vitra, who describe the exhibition as “an opportunity to rediscover his story as one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, his approach to design, structures and materials, and his sensitivity to colour.”
His unique body of work ranges from a letter-opener to hardware for doors and windows, lighting, furniture, facade elements, pre-fabricated houses, modular building systems, and large-scale conference and exhibition halls.
“Essentially, almost anything that is suited to industrial production methods,” says Vitra. “In close cooperation with the Prouvé family, Vitra began in 2002 to issue re-editions of designs by this great French constructeur.”
A versatile career
Prouvé – whose father Victor was an artist and sculptor and his mother Marie a musician – began his career as a metal artisan, opening his own workshop in 1924 in his hometown of Nancy. He produced wrought iron chandeliers, lamps and hand rails, among other practical household objects, and soon began designing his own furniture.
Over the years, his skill with metal earned him significant commissions, including parts for Parisian buildings and private mansions.
Among his many innovations was the development of folded sheet metal for the construction of buildings in post-war France, to be used for creating pre-fabricated houses. His idea was a result of the realities at the time, where damaged or decimated buildings left many families without a place to live.
Having lived through two World Wars, Prouvé developed a ‘constructional philosophy’ and designed hard-wearing furniture free of artifice, as well as buildings that could be dismantled, modified and transported.
A versatile career
What began as an acquisition of a vintage Antony chair from 1954 by the Chairman Emeritus of Vitra, Rolf Fehlbaum, during a visit to Paris in the 1980s, went on to become an intense programme of collecting.
Today, the Vitra Design Museum has the most extensive museum collection of furniture and objects by Jean Prouvé and, in 1999, an agreement was reached between the Prouvé family and Vitra which granted the company the right to produce Prouvé furniture.
In 2002, the first series of Prouvé designs went into production: the Standard chair, the Antony and Cité armchairs, the Potence lamp, and the Trapèze, EM, Guéridon and Granito tables.
His youngest daughter, Catherine Prouvé, says “this partnership stands under a propitious star. It continues the work of Jean Prouvé and fills us with deep satisfaction.”
Visit the exhibition from 14th– 19th October, 12-8pm at Level 4, The Grist, The Brewhouse.
Photos: Vitra / Vivendo
