Artist Exhibition: Charlotte Perriand

Charlotte Perriand, along with Jean Prouve, Jacques Adnet, and Jean Royere, is deemed one of the most important and influential figures in furniture making of the mid-20th century. In 1927, at the age of just 24 years old, Perriand was the creative mind behind the production of a number of critically acclaimed pieces of metal furniture which remain highly coveted. These pieces drew the attention of big names in the world of furniture and architecture that we have become accustomed to, notably Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeaneret. What later was to become was a marvelous working relationship that lasted many years and produced various famous pieces including the Chaise lounge.

In 1927, and the young Parisian designer had applied to work for the hallowed and highly regarded designer, Le Corbusier. She was soon welcomed with a response from Le Corbusier himself, curtly stating, “We do not embroider cushions here.” How could the 24 year-old designer play a role in Le Corbusier’s elevated plan to revolutionize the way we dwell?

Yet it was no more than one month later that Le Corbusier found himself sitting at Perriand’s Le Bar sous le toit. To say Le Corbusier was astonished is to understate his infatuation with what he found. Nickel-plated copper stools clustered on an anodized-aluminum cocktail bar, a chrome-plated table nestled beside a leather banquette. Le Corbusier was intoxicated, spellbound he hired Perriand on the spot.

Perriand’s work was to later evolve into the mid 1930’s experimenting with natural materials such as wood and cane. She later traveled to Japan in the 1940’s as an official adviser on the “industrial design to the Ministry for Trade and Industry to advise the government on how to raise standards of design in order to develop products for export to the west.” There she learned and honed new techniques of the weaving and woodwork of straw, bamboo, and twigs; These materials later becoming her materials of choice.

After WWII, Perriand found herself developing a new style and concept of the way of lounging and dwelling. She found the idea of integrating the the human dimension into her work of utmost importance. Bending the use of the materials she selected for her creations, she was able to achieve the recognition for her free form in the exemplification of her massive wood-worked models. “Always concerned with innovation rather than trying to affirm a formula for renovation.” Perriand was always conscious of the societal and economic realities of the world she lived in and decided upon large-scale production - a new way to find a synthesis between design tradition and industry.

Designing various housing developments with Le Corbusier in 1949, such as the Unité d’Habitation in Marseilles, rooms for the International Students’ Residence in Paris in 1953, and a library built in collaboration with Jean Prouvé and commissioned by André Bloc, the founder of the “Groupe Espace”. “Throughout her career, Charlotte Perriand dedicated herself to maintaining a standard for the quality of life - whether working-class housing developments, urban or rural dwellings, mountain refuges, and hotels, she always approached her projects with the interest of humankind and environment in mind, by creating furniture which is both comfortable and functional.”

Charlotte Perriand was one of the few rare designers to be blessed with spontaneous harmonic contemporary thought. “The extension of the art of dwelling is the art of living— living in harmony with man’s deepest drives and with his adopted and fabricated environment.”