Jean Nouvel was born in 1945 in Fumel, France. His approach to design comes from a need to create objects for his own architectures. This approach created the Less table which was produced by Molteni&C. for the headquarters of the Cartier Foundation. The Ateliers Jean Nouvel design activities reflect a desire to develop an “architectural design”.

After graduating from the National School of Fine Arts in Paris in 1972, Jean Nouvel opened his own studio. In 1981 he won the Institut du Monde Arabe competition in Paris. Since then he has received many awards including the Grand Prix National d'Architecture, the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale and the Pritzker Prize, the Nobel Prize for architecture in 2008.