Jean Prouvé, the Multi-artist

What began with a trip to Paris in the early 1980s has now grown into the world's most complete collection of Jean Prouvé's furniture at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany. It was in Paris that Rolf Fehlbaum, Chairman Emeritus and former CEO of Vitra, made his first purchase of Jean Prouvé: an Anthony Chair with a plywood seat and metal base designed in 1954. Working closely with the Prouvé family, Vitra then began producing Prouvé's designs on a larger scale in 2002. It's been 20 years since then and Vitra is now re-launching both a palette of original colours and four more pieces of furniture from Prouvé's design legacy.

Jean Prouvé developed special colours for the steel elements in his furniture designs. He wanted to highlight the natural materials and covered the steel parts with colour. Gris Vermeer, Bleu Dyansti, Blé Vert, Bleu Marcole and Metal Brut are now reintroduced on famous classics such as the Standard chair or the Direction Pivotant armchair.

The relaunch also gives new life to the Tabouret Métallique and Tabouret 307 stools, the Rayonnage Mural shelf and the Abat-Jour Conique lamp, as Prouvé's timeless design meets today's homes and interiors.

Jean Prouvé was ahead of his time in many ways. He moved between genres and managed to transfer his insights and knowledge to different fields. He was also resourceful and innovative in the way he constructed and used materials.

After training as a metalsmith, he opened his own metalworking studio in Nancy, France in 1923. Two years later, he met Le Corbusier for the first time in Paris and through the 'Ateliers Jean Prouvé', which he founded in 1931, he went on to create and produce everything from commissions from the great modernist designers to his own designs and furniture for the Université de Nancy. In both architecture and furniture, he used industrial techniques to create sturdy structures while using as little material as possible. After the Second World War, furniture from Jean Prouvé's studio began to appear in various exhibitions and the furniture he now created, some in collaboration with Charlotte Perriand, was sold exclusively in Steph Simon's gallery in Paris between 1956 and 1974.

But his impact on design history did not end there. As an architect, he had a hand in the design of the Centre Pompidou. He also pioneered industrial design and serial production and helped revolutionise post-war housing solutions with prefabricated houses that could be easily assembled and dismantled. Born in 1901, Jean Prouvé himself lived through two world wars and understood the need to create furniture and housing that could be easily adapted and varied according to demand. Jean Prouvé also had a strong social commitment and was for a short period after the Second World War the mayor of Nancy.

He saw himself as an engineer. He both designed and produced his own ideas and his designs ranged from letter openers, lighting and furniture to mobile homes.

The architect

With no official training in architecture, Prouvé collaborated with architects of his time to realise his ideas, such as Eugène Beaudoin and Marcel Lods for the creation of La maison du peuple in Clichy-Sur-Sein or Pierre Jeanneret for a model of a dismountable pavilion. Prouvé also went on to work as an engineering consultant on numerous building projects in Paris and in 1971 he made history when, as a member of the jury, he chose the designs of Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers for the creation of one of the world's most famous art institutions - the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

The designer

Jean Prouvé's identity as an industrial designer permeated his approach to design. The designs that came out of his studio had a strong expression but were created from simple solutions where the construction was often visible in the final product.
One example is the Standard chair that Prouvé created in 1934. It clearly shows how the construction becomes part of the design when the parts of the chair that hold the most weight, the back legs where the backrest and seat meet, are also emphasised in the design and are stronger than the other legs. A simple and stylish design feature that has become one of the great classics of our time.

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