About 9 years ago we were at the Design Museum in London. We saw there was an exhibition about a designer called Jean Prouvé and so thought we’d take a look.
Prouvé was a French metal worker. A self-taught architect and designer. He used design and innovation to take industrial manufacturing processes into new areas. He was key in introducing a more industrial construction and aesthetic to the interior world.
Design to him was not a novelty. He felt you could not call yourself a designer unless you knew how to make the things you drew. He had his own workshop and later his own factory.
It was this exhibition and Prouvé’s blending of materials, manufacturing processes and production, all design led, that really inspired us and set us on a pathway to creating Solidwool.
On the left, a Solidwool dozen. On the right, a Jean Prouvé Cite lounge chair.
This month British Design Critic and writer for the International New York Times, Alice Rawsthorn posted a series of 7 posts on her Instagram feed, talking about Jean Prouvé. Each of the posts and a link to the stories are below:
1. Describing himself as “an anarchist in a good way”, Prouvé was passionately committed to the modernist ideal of using design and industrialisation to improve the lives of the masses. More...
2. After leaving school school at the age of 15, Jean Prouvé was apprenticed for five years to Parisian metalworkers, first Emile Robert, then Szabo. More...
3. When World War II began, Jean Prouvé’s workshop switched to military production by designing prefabricated barracks for the French army. More...
4. Designer, architect, artisan, engineer, manufacturer, entrepreneur. Jean Prouve fulfilled all of those roles, but preferred to describe himself as a "factory worker". More...
5. Losing his beloved factory in Maxéville was a dreadful blow for Jean Prouvé. His family tried to distract him with a new project to design and build a house where he would live. More...
6. Like his father Victor, who co-founded the École de Nancy group of artists, designers and makers, Jean Prouvé forged firm friendships with his peers and fellow modernist pioneers. More...
7. There can be no doubt about Jean Prouvé's objectives for his work. Throughout his life he strove to fulfil his father Victor's dream of deploying "industrial production for the widest possible public". More...
“If people understand, there’s no need to explain. If they don’t, there’s no use explaining.”