Jean prouve : Concept houses showcase French design pioneers

A full-scale construction of one of Jean Prouv’s demountable houses. Developed in 1945, the 8×8-meter house continues to be assembled with parts in the Prouv factory by Galerie Patrick Seguin.
Because the design world converges on Miami this week for Design Miami’s ninth annual congregation of curators, collectors, critics, and celebrities, design icons in the past take center stage. “We have consistently expanded our program over recent years,” says Marianne Goebl, director of Design Miami. “This December, visitors to the fair will discover the widest range of historic positions up to now.”

Pioneering Modernist Charlotte Perriand may be the focus of not just one but four exhibitions in view at Design Miami’s main venue, The Raleigh Hotel, the Lv boutique, and also the Cassina showroom. Her countryman and something time collaborator Jean Prouv comes with an equally commanding presence with a full-scale construction of 1 of his demountable houses.

“It’s no coincidence these exhibits are happening simultaneously,” says Fran?ois Laffanour, who owns Paris’s Galerie Downtown, that is hosting Charlotte Perriand – A House in Montmartre. “The post-war work of those designers represents a means of living, not just decoration. It’s best but simple, having a human quality that’s very attractive to us today.” Laffanour has dedicated over 30 years to creating the marketplace for original works of Perriand. His Miami show features Japanese-inspired pieces that Perriand designed in the 1950s for a house for industrialist Jean Borot. According to Laffanour, who purchased the house two years ago, “Each piece is exclusive and designed specifically to slot in this house, so a few of the dimension is unusual. For example, the console is extremely long.”

Prices for these one-of-a-kind designs vary from $40,000 for that smaller pieces to $600,000 for any multi-paneled table. Coming in with an even heftier, but undisclosed cost is the Prouv house. Designed in 1945, the 8×8-meter house has been assembled with parts from the Prouv factory by Galerie Patrick Seguin, who mounted similar exhibits of earlier Prouv houses at art fairs in Basel and Paris, but nothing you’ve seen prior in the usa. “The size the house took it’s origin from the capacity of the four-meter-long press in Prouv’s workshop,” says Seguin. “He wanted to show that building a home is just like building furniture.”

Agencies