Jean-Marie Massaud

Architect; Product/Industrial Designer / France / Studio Massaud

www.massaud.com/site/en/

Born in 1966 in Toulouse, France, and a graduate of Les Ateliers, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle (ENSCI) in Paris (1990), Jean-Marie Massaud has made the synthesis of artistic and philosophical vision, technology, sustainability, and economic viability a hallmark of a career that has spanned multiple areas of design—from furniture and industrial design to architecture and futuristic concepts. After work in Asia and France, he opened his first office, in Paris, in 1996. In 2000 he founded Studio Massaud (with Daniel Pouzet) to expand his work in architecture and brand development.

Massaud has collaborated with such well-known international brands as B&B Italia, Axor Hansgrohe, Cassina, Dior, Poltrona Frau, Lancôme, and Renault, as well as with the Swedish company Wästberg and the Italian company MDF Italia. Stressing an integration of culture with nature, his work for these diverse companies includes designs for unconventional sofas and armchairs, bathroom fixtures, lighting, and “green” office furniture, among many other products.

He is also recognized for his visionary architectural projects that stress a harmony between human beings and their natural surroundings. These include “Manned Cloud” (proposed in 2007), a flying hotel in the form of a “cruise airship”—to reduce the destructive footprint of tourism—developed in partnership with the French national aerospace research agency, Office National d'Etudes et de Recherche Aérospatiale (ONERA); and in the same year, a residential tower project for Guadalajara, Mexico, called “Life Reef.” His Chivas Sports Stadium for Guadalajara, Mexico (completed 2010) is designed to resemble a volcano whose “slopes” are the setting for a public park.

Massaud’s designs have received numerous awards, have been the subject of several monographs, and are part of the permanent collections of major museums worldwide, among them, the Musée National d'Art Moderne de Paris and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; the Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.

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