This fall, Pritzker winner Jean Nouvel is set to unveil one of the most-anticipated architecture projects of the year: the new home of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, located in a reimagined Hausmann building in Paris. (A first look at the transformation is currently on view in Venice, where the Fondazione Giorgio Cini is showcasing models, plans and other material from the French architect’s design process.) That said, Nouvel and his atelier already have another big 2025 accomplishment under their belt. At the end of April, office furniture maker Coalesse launched the Jean Nouvel Seating Collection — a free-flowing series of furniture that takes its cues from nature.

An Organic Collaboration

Part of the Steelcase family of brands, Coalesse blends technical research and residential influences into office designs that allow people to work in a range of different ways. As Meghan Dean, the general manager of Design Brands and Partners at Steelcase explains, the company was drawn to work with Nouvel specifically because of his track record of translating ambitious concepts into reality. “The intention was to introduce something a little unexpected,” she says. “We wanted to do something that was purely beautiful, while still being relevant for the workplace.”

Working with the Coalesse design team, Nouvel started by presenting a series of reference images depicting moments of fluid movement in nature. “He was inspired by the way that water ran over stones in a creek, and how that could translate to people moving through open spaces,” says Dean. Sweeping sand dunes served as a second starting point. Each of these reference points offered ideas about how to create furniture with looser boundaries — something that’s especially valuable in large open settings. “A lot of in-between spaces are tricky to arrange when furniture is so rectilinear because it really breaks spaces up rather than allowing people to flow through them,” explains Dean. Nouvel’s designs allow people to stop and linger — without blocking off others who are just passing by.

Going Head-to-Head

Continuing this focus on flexibility, the collection’s anchor piece, a tête-à-tête loveseat, allows people to easily move from one seating arrangement to the next. “You can face the other person and be comfortable and supported, but if you don’t know the person sitting on the other end, you can also be comfortably alone, doing head-down work,” Dean says. The design harkens back to the S-shaped designs common among 18th-century French salon furniture. “Thinking back to how those were used in history, they were also for these private moments in a busy room,” says Dean. “So this is bringing that idea back, but also bringing it forward.” She feels the fact that the piece requires a pretty particular setting gives it a special identity. “It’s for being in a private moment when things are really bustling around you, so it can really only be used in a big, open space. But that makes it perfect for a learning commons in higher education, or a busy lobby, or an airport executive lounge.”

Fine-Tuning Assembly and Ergonomics

As for the collection’s construction, Dean says that it underscores an old industry adage: the simplest pieces are often the hardest to execute — particularly when they are available in a wide range of fabrics. “We’re offering the collection in leather, vinyl, and any other fabric option that an interior designer would want. It’s like asking a seamstress to cut exactly the same suit, but with totally different stretch and variables,” she says. “It takes a lot of work to ensure that a simple curve won’t have wrinkles or puckers.” Another debate was how prominent the seams should be. “Fairly late in the development, we realized that the seams are actually telling a great story, so we went from a plain stitch to a double stitch. Now the eye gravitates to them more, and you appreciate the curve and the movement of the product.”

Speaking of those curves, each one was carefully calibrated to support a range of different body types through a series of sit testing exercises. “There are a lot of people exploring organic shapes right now — that’s clearly the trend,” says Dean. “And there are varying degrees of softness — you’ve got everything from a bean bag chair right through to something more structured. We wanted to thread the needle and create something that’s a comfortable place where people could choose to sit, but also a comfortable place where someone could pull up a side table and do some work on a laptop. It really comes down to seat depth and the pitch of the back to make sure that people have enough lower back support.”

From Nouvel’s perspective, the collection’s strength is, indeed, how natural it all seems. “This work is extremely pure, extremely enduring,” he says in the press release. “For me, an object is a success if it feels familiar to me the moment it comes off the factory floor. You should be asking yourself why you didn’t think of it earlier.”