↑ The Jean Prouvé Collection
of the Vitra Design Museum in
Weil am Rhein
↗ The Petrol Station created by
Jean Prouvé together with his
brother Henri, 1953 / 2003,
Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein
→
Colour chart from Ateliers
Jean Prouvé, 1951
The museum’s collection of
historical furniture and objects
plays a major role in Vitra’s
ongoing development of the
Prouvé product portfolio.
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A trained metal artisan, Jean
Prouvé (1901–1984) was also a
craftsman, architect and lecturer.
His work encompasses a wide range
of objects, from a letter opener
to door and window fittings,
from lighting and furniture to
façade elements and prefabricated
houses, from modular building
systems to large exhibition struc-
tures – essentially, almost anything
that is suited to industrial pro-
duction methods. Prouvé tried out
his ideas in his own workshop
‘Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé’: he
created drawings on a 1:1 scale,
which he sent to the factory or
handed over to his employees in
person to make a prototype.
His creations follow the principle
of simplicity, consisting of indi-
vidual elements that are assembled
and screwed together. This cumu-
lative construction process is also
visible in the finished product –
as well as in Prouvé’s architectural
work. As he did not have any
formal architectural training, he
collaborated
with
the
modern
architects of his time to execute
his construction ideas. He is known
for his use of standardised, pre-
fabricated elements to create cost-
effective housing in the post-war
era. He left his mark on architectural
history again in 1971, when he
played a major role in selecting the
design of Renzo Piano and Richard
Rogers for the Centre Pompidou as
chairman of the competition jury.
Jean Prouvé’s furniture reflects his
unwavering focus on structural
requirements, giving his designs
a technical poetic expression. In
2022 Vitra expanded the colour
palette to include several of the
French engineer’s original colours.
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