By designing furniture and interiors for the Paris art galleries of Samuel Bing in 1896, van de Velde was responsible for bringing the Art Nouveau style to Paris. But he was interested not so much in the style as in the philosophy of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement in England. Van de Velde's most vital contributions to modern design were made as a teacher in Germany, where his name became known through the exhibition of furnished interiors at Dresden in 1897.

In 1902 he went to Weimar as artistic adviser to the grand duke of Saxe-Weimar. There he reorganized the Kunstgewerbeschule (arts-and-crafts school) and the academy of fine art and thus laid the foundations for Walter Gropius' amalgamation of the two bodies into the Bauhaus in 1919. Like the progressive German designers at the time, van de Velde was connected with the Deutscher Werkbund, and he designed the theatre for the Werkbund Exposition in Cologne in 1914.

Despite official appointments in Belgium, van de Velde after 1918 made no further contributions to architecture or design. A valuable extract from his Memoirs (1891-1901) was published in the Architectural Review, 112:143-148 (September 1952).

Henry Van de Velde was a Flemish architect, painter and decorator (1863-1957). Though as an amateur of landscapes he initially painted in neo-impressionistic style and became a member of the group "Les Vingt" in Brussels in 1889, he devoted himself exclusively to the applied arts from 1890 onwards. In 1895 he built his house in Uccle, which shows the influence of English architecture. Flowing and waving lines suggestive of plant motifs predominate.

Together with Victor Horta he laid the foundation of art nouveau in Belgium. He became known internationally with the creation of a number of interiors and furniture for Samuel Bing's gallery "L'art nouveau" in Paris (1896). He was the first among art nouveau artists to work in an abstract style, starting from curved lines.

From 1900 onwards he mainly worked in Germany. After an exhibition in Dresden he received requests for designs of furniture and utensils. In 1902 he became the adviser of the grand-duke of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach, where he built the Kunstgewerbeschule and the academy. Until World War I he would also teach there. Henry Van de Velde is generally considered as one of the founders of what was to become the Bauhaus of Walter Gropius. After World War I he became a professor at the university of Ghent (1926-1936), where he also designed the library (). He was also in charge of the Hoger Instituut voor Architectuur en Sierkunsten at the abbey of Notre Dame de la Cambre in Elsene (1926-1935). The museum of Otterloo is another of his famous buildings. He published several books, among them "Déblaiement d'art" (1895), "Vom neuen Stil" (1907), "Formules d'une esthétique moderne" (1923), "Doctrine. A la recherche d'une beauté permanente" (1947).