In 1911, Jourdain began to design furniture, following the teachings of
Adolf Loos. He opened
Les Ateliers Modernes in 1912, a small furniture factory. He designed
modular wooden furniture for working-class people, advertising in the socialist paper ''
L'Humanité''. With his built-in furniture and storage systems he was able to make small areas appear spacious. He owned a furniture shop by 1919,
Chez Francis Jourdain. Jourdain was a regular exhibitor from 1913 to 1928 at the ''
Salon d'Automne and the Societé des Artistes Décorateurs''. Jourdain published many articles on modern art and aesthetics in which he attacked the ostentatious luxury that was typical of contemporary French design. His own designs were simple, with straightforward construction. He collaborated with
Le Corbusier in 1920 in publishing a journal titled ''L'esprit nouveau'', subsidized by the government. It advocated standardization and industrial production as an alternative to individual design, required to rebuild the shattered French society and economy of the years following
World War I (1914–18). At the 1925
Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (
International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts) Jourdain's "Physical Culture Room", unlike other exhibits, did not emphasize luxury living. His design used smooth wood paneling on the walls and ceilings that resembled riveted sheets of metal. He worked with
Robert Mallet-Stevens between 1925 and 1930. An interior he designed for an Intellectual Worker was exhibited in 1937 at the
Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris. File:Francis Jourdain 417 fauteuil virgule 1925.jpg|Comma armchair, 1922 File:Louis Sognot 412b fauteuil.jpg|Deckchair, 1928 File:Francis Jourdain 417 fauteuil 1930.jpg|Chair, ==Political activity==