Jean Prouvé, EM table for Vitra

JEAN PROUVÉ (France, 1901-1984) for Vitra.
EM dining table.
Steel lacquered in cream/light sand and HPL (high pressure laminate) top in asphalt color.
Use marks.
Manufactured by Vitra, with 2018 labels.
Measurements: 260 x 90 cm, height 74 cm.

The EM (Entrepôt Moderne) dining table, designed by French engineer and architect Jean Prouvé in the late 1940s and produced by Vitra, is an icon of modern design noted for its focus on functionality, honesty of materials and an industrial aesthetic.

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 sheet steel 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 houses 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.