Jean Prouvé, Solvay Bois stool for Vitra

JEAN PROUVÉ (France, 1901-1984) for Vitra.
Solvay Bois stool, designed in 1941.
Solid oak.
Minimal signs of use, in box.
With Vitra plaque.
Measurements: 45 cm high, 40 cm diameter.

The Solvay stool, produced by designer and engineer Jean Prouvé, is a convincing demonstration of clear structural principles. It is a stool that can also serve as a side table. It is made entirely of wood, a variation on Prouvé's architecturally informed design vocabulary in a natural material, proving that modern tables do not have to be made of steel and glass.

The son of modernist cabinetmaker Victor Prouvé, he was a prolific builder, designer and engineer. In Paris, he trained as an artistic blacksmith with Emile Robert, Enghien and Szabo in Paris. In 1924 he opened his own workshop in Nancy. As early as 1925, he produced the first shaped steel sheet furniture. In 1930 he co-founded the artists' association "Union des Artistes Modernes". In 1931 he founded Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé. During the 1930s, these workshops produced numerous pieces of furniture and the first prefabricated architectural elements, for example for the "Maison du Peuple" in Clichy, which attracted great attention with its steel and glass structure. Due to the shortage of steel, during the war, wooden furniture is made and simple dwellings are developed from prefabricated elements. From 1940, Jean Prouvé is a member of the resistance and becomes mayor of Nancy after the liberation of the city. During this period, he designs and builds housing for the homeless. In 1947, Jean Prouvé founded the Maxéville factory. Between 1957 and 1968, he headed the construction department of the Compagnie Industrielle de Matériel de Transport de Paris. Between 1968 and 1984, he ran a studio in Paris as an independent consulting architect. Between 1957 and 1970 he holds a chair at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers. In 1971 he chairs the jury for the competition for the construction of the Pompidou Center in Paris and contributes to the choice of the design by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers. Between 1980 and 1984, he devoted himself to perfecting his furniture designs. In many of his works, Prouvé succeeds in combining his pretensions for functionality, suitability of materials and economy with the complex requirements of mass production. In 2002, Vitra began to reissue his designs in collaboration with the Prouvé family.