Jean Nouvel

Background

Jean Nouvel was born on 12 August 1945 in Fumel, France. He studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and started his first architecture practice in 1970. Wikipedia lists him as a founding member of the Mars 1976 movement and of the Syndicat de l'Architecture.

Signature Style

Molteni&C describes a contextual approach and an ability to infuse genuine uniqueness into every project. In design, he has developed collections related to his architectural projects, such as the Less table that Molteni&C produced for the Fondation Cartier headquarters. He says the elementarity he seeks has nothing to do with minimalism.

Notable Works

His buildings include the Arab World Institute in Paris, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the National Museum of Qatar, the 53W53 tower in New York, the Museum of Art Pudong in Shanghai and the new Fondation Cartier in Paris. For Molteni&C he designed the Graduate bookshelf, the Less Less tables, desks and coffee tables and the Skin sofas.

Legacy

He founded Jean Nouvel Design in 1995 and has created more than 100 products with furniture manufacturers. His distinctions include the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale (2000), the RIBA Gold Medal (2001), the Praemium Imperiale (2001) and the Pritzker Prize (2008).