Jean NOUVEL born in Fumel (France) 1945

After he enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux, Jean Nouvel entered the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1966 and obtained his degree in 1971. Assistant to the architect Claude Parent and inspired by urban planner and essayist Paul Virilio, he started his first architecture practice in 1970.

He became a founding member of the “Mars 1976” Movement whose purpose was to oppose the architects’corporatism and then a founder of French Architecture Union.

His strong stances on contemporary architecture in the urban context together with his unfailing ability to inject originality into all the projects he undertakes have formed his international image. Jean Nouvel’s approach does not result from considerations of style or ideology, but from a quest to create a unique concept for a singular combination of people, place and time. His most notable projects include the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain (Paris), the Galeries Lafayette (Berlin), the Quai Branly Museum (Paris), the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the National Museum of Qatar (Doha), the 53W53 tower (New York), the Museum of Art Pudong (Shanghai) and the Duo towers (Paris).

His works have gained world-wide recognition through numerous prestigious International prizes and rewards. In 2000, Jean Nouvel received the Lion d’Or of the Venice Biennale. In 2001, he received three of the highest international awards: the Royal Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Praemium Imperial of Japan’s Fine Arts Association and the Borromini Prize for the Culture and Conference Center in Lucerne. He was also the recipient of the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 2008.

In the field of design, Jean Nouvel made his first furniture projects in 1987 as part of VIA’s “Carte Blanche” series. Later, he developed several collections related to his architectural projects, and expanded his practice with the 1995 created company Jean Nouvel Design (JND). He developed more than 100 products together with the greatest makers of contemporary furniture: Artemide, Molteni, Poltrona Frau and more recently Koleksyion which re-edited his iconic collections Simplissimo, Vienna and Oxymores. At the same time, Jean Nouvel created unique pieces with Gagosian Gallery and Galerie Patrick Seguin such as the Table au Km (2011), Boîte à Outils (2011), and Triptyques (2014).