2
1
( 1 ) Cité · 13 Prouvé Gris Vermeer powder-coated (smooth) · Leather Premium F, 59 jade · Jean Prouvé, 1930
( 2 ) Guéridon Bas · 75 solid American walnut, oiled · Jean Prouvé, 1944
Photographed in the Villa Dollander, Le Lavandou, France; built in 1949 by Jean Prouvé (construction) and his brother Henri (architecture).
document9998213628948246928.indd 30
document9998213628948246928.indd 30
06.02.2025 11:16:17
06.02.2025 11:16:17
31
Jean Prouvé in the living room of his house
in Nancy, France.
A Cité from the collection of the Vitra Design
Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany.
Cité, Jean Prouvé, 1930
The Vitra Design Museum’s 2006 exhibition ‘Jean Prouvé: The Poetics of
the Technical Object’ was revelatory. Among the pieces on show was Cité,
an armchair that demonstrates the essence of the designer’s philosophy:
‘Furniture is like houses, you have to construct it.’ The French engineer and
designer Jean Prouvé developed the chair in 1930 for a competition to
furnish the student residence halls at Cité Universitaire in Nancy.
The design is extremely comfortable, yet completely free of extraneous
elements. Now considered an early Prouvé masterpiece, it is the perfect
expression of the designer who called himself a ‘factory man.’
document9998213628948246928.indd 31
document9998213628948246928.indd 31
06.02.2025 11:16:24
06.02.2025 11:16:24
