Jean Prouvé, the son of Victor Prouvé, a member of the École de Nancy, continued his father's craft as a metalworker. After training in the ironworking shops of Emile Robert and Szabo, he established his own workshop in Nancy in 1924. However, he soon turned towards modernism, producing his first furniture pieces from folded sheet steel and stainless steel.

In 1929, Prouvé became a founding member of the U.A.M. (Union des Artistes Modernes) and established his own metal construction workshop, "Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé," in Nancy. Numerous furniture projects emerged in the 1930s, along with the first prefabricated architectural elements, exemplified by the Maison du Peuple in 1939 (in collaboration with architects Eugène Beaudoin and Marcel Lods, and engineer Bodiansky), which made a sensation with its steel and glass structure. That same year, he developed a system of movable partitions and designed a mass-produced metal house on stilts that could be easily and quickly assembled.

In 1934, Prouvé invented the first Standard chair. Using folded sheet metal and steel tubing, the seat was functional, simple, and ergonomically comfortable. Prouvé was also one of the first French builders to create suspended facades, such as the Roland-Garros aeroclub in Buc, which he constructed in 1935 based on the designs of Beaudoin and Lods. During the war, due to the scarcity of steel, furniture was made from wood, and prefabricated houses were developed.

Starting in 1940, Jean Prouvé was a member of the Resistance, and after the liberation of Nancy, he created and built houses for displaced populations. In the winter of 1954, he developed a demountable house for Abbé Pierre, who had launched an appeal for the homeless. Le Corbusier described it as "the most beautiful of houses."

In 1947, Prouvé established the Maxéville factory, where 200 employees produced prefabricated houses and schools in addition to furniture. A department dedicated to furniture was created in 1949, with Steph Simon handling exclusive marketing. In the 1980s, Jean Prouvé continued to develop his furniture designs. He passed away in Nancy in 1984.

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