As the critical reassessment of 20th century design continues, no greater rediscovery has been made than the work of French engineer/designer Jean Prouvé. “Never design anything that cannot be made,” Prouvé once said. He betrayed his training as an engineer with a practical body of work ranging from letter openers and doorknobs to furniture and buildings.
Prouvé was born into an artistic family in Nancy, France; his father, Victor Prouvé, collaborated with the great Art Nouveau artists Emile Gallé and Louis Majorelle as a ceramicist. Prouvé himself was trained as a metalsmith before attending engineering school in Nancy, and his intimate knowledge of metal remained the foundation of his work and career. After opening his own workshop in 1923, Prouvé began producing modern metal furniture of his own design as well as collaborating with some of the best-known French designers of the day, including Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand. His shelving units for the dormitories at the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris, designed with Perriand and the artist Sonia Delaunay in 1952, are perhaps the best-known examples of his collaborative work.