Charlotte Perriand
Modernism's furniture designer.
Charlotte Perriand designed tubular steel furniture with Le Corbusier and later developed her style in Japan, working with wood and bamboo.
Charlotte Perriand was born in Paris in 1903. She studied interior design at a school of decorative arts in 1920–25. In 1927 she showed Bar sous le toit (Bar under the Roof) at the Salon d'Automne, an interior with furniture in nickel-plated metal and aluminium inspired by cars and machines. That same year she applied for a job with Le Corbusier, who, by her own account, first turned her away with the words “We don't embroider cushions here”, but hired her after seeing the exhibition.
For ten years she was responsible for the furniture in Le Corbusier's studio. Together with him and Pierre Jeanneret she designed the tubular steel chaise longue, the Grand Confort armchair and other pieces in 1928 that are now classics. For a long time the furniture was attributed mainly to Le Corbusier, and only later was her decisive role recognised. She was politically on the left and wanted to create homes and furniture for everyone.
In 1940 she was invited to Japan as an adviser on industrial design to the Japanese government. She travelled around the country learning about Japanese craftsmanship, bamboo, wood and straw, and in 1941 she organised an exhibition in Tokyo. During the war she ended up in Indochina, present-day Vietnam, where she married and had a daughter. Her encounter with Japan shifted her style towards softer forms and natural materials.
After the war she designed furniture with, among others, Jean Prouvé, such as the Nuage bookcase, and worked on interiors for Air France and for housing. She loved the mountains and from the 1960s led the planning of the ski resort of Les Arcs in Savoie, where she designed compact flats with sweeping views. She maintained a long collaboration with Japan and in 1993 created a teahouse for UNESCO in Paris.
Perriand died in 1999. Her memoirs were published the year before. Major exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou in 2005 and the Fondation Louis Vuitton in 2019 have presented her as one of the leading designers of the 20th century. Many of her pieces are still in production.