Charlotte Perriand

Charlotte Perriand (born October 24, 1903, Paris, France—died October 27, 1999, Paris) was a French designer known for iconic 20th-century furniture, such as the LC “Fauteuil Grand Confort” set of Modernist living-room furniture that includes a chair, two sizes of sofas, and an ottoman, one of many collaborations with Le Corbusier and his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret.

Early life and career

Perriand was raised in Paris, where her father worked as a tailor and her mother was a seamstress. During her childhood she traveled to the remote mountainous region of Savoy, France, where her paternal grandparents resided. Later in life, even though she lived and worked in and was inspired by the energy of the city, she would return to the French Alps to relax, ski, and enjoy the region’s natural beauty.

Perriand’s stellar drawing abilities caught the attention of her junior-high-school art instructor. At the urging of her mother, Perriand attended the École de l’Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs from 1920 to 1925. There, under the tutelage of the school’s artistic director, Henri Rapin (a talented and practicing interior designer), she thrived, and her work showed great promise. Years later she recalled Rapin’s practical pedagogical approach and how it had disciplined her and helped her to move an idea from the drawing board to reality. In addition to attending courses, Perriand supplemented her education and fed her curiosity by enrolling in classes made available through large department stores that housed their own design workshops. She attended lectures by Maurice Dufrêne, the studio director of La Maîtrise workshop, located at the Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris. Because of his association with the store, Dufrêne challenged the students with pragmatic applicable projects, the results of which could be used by the Galeries Lafayette. Perriand’s schoolwork revealed her to be an adroit designer, and her projects were selected and exhibited at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. Dufrêne also chose her wall-hanging designs for display at the Galeries Lafayette; later that work would be machine-fabricated on a larger scale and used in other interiors designed by Dufrêne.

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After graduation, greatly encouraged by Dufrêne and Rapin, who had advised her that she “had to show to get known,” Perriand submitted her work to be displayed at numerous exhibitions. Her most-notable entry was in the year 1927 at the Salon d’Automne with her design Bar sous le toit (“Bar in the Attic”), an installation of furniture, finishes, and a built-in bar. With her use of materials such as nickel along with a bold design, Bar sous le toit revealed Perriand’s preference for an aesthetic that mirrored the age of the machine and a break with the École’s preference for finely handcrafted objects made of exotic and rare woods. With glistening surfaces, reflective metals, and blunt geometric forms, the upholstery design was devoid of patterns and warm materials such as wood or soft textiles. The project was a watershed moment in her career, as Perriand wholeheartedly embraced the use of steel—a medium previously used only by men—as her material of choice to convey newfound expressions of modern design.

Collaborations with Le Corbusier

Amid the sudden recognition and success of her work, she expressed some anxiety to a friend, jewelry designer Jean Fouquet, about pursuing the next project, for which she had no plans. At Fouquet’s suggestion, Perriand read Le Corbusier’s books Vers une architecture (1923; Toward an Architecture) and L’Art décoratif d’aujourd’hui (1925; The Decorative Art of Today), setting in motion her next endeavour: to work with the author, an innovative and revolutionary architect. She was “dazzled” by his writings; the latter book, which eviscerated the decorative arts and by extension her education, was in alignment with the new way in which she designed. By Perriand’s account, when she arrived at his atelier with her portfolio in hand, seeking a position, he dismissively told her, “We don’t embroider cushions in my studio.” Not discouraged by his degrading comment, she invited him to the Salon d’Automne to view her work. Le Corbusier—recognizing a kindred spirit after seeing her Bar sous le toit design—hired her.

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From 1927 to 1937 she worked in the atelier, later calling that experience “a privilege.” Her charge and focus was on l’équipement intérieur de l’habitation (“the equipment of a modern dwelling”) or furniture designed by the atelier, including the fabrication of the prototypes and their final production. She would contribute to the design of three iconic furniture pieces: the siège à dossier basculant (1928; “armchair with a tilting back”; also identified as LC1), the “Fauteuil Grand Confort” easy chair (1928; LC2 and LC3), and the chaise lounge (1928; LC4). Because of Le Corbusier’s towering reputation, he is often given sole credit for the conception and design of the chairs. However, as with any highly collaborative undertaking, giving credit to any single individual is problematic. Perriand acknowledged that he had defined the framework of the overall forms of the chairs and provided design direction but averred that she had fleshed out the details, construction, and actual design with Pierre Jeanneret. In the 21st century the pieces are still sold by the Italian furniture company Cassina, which credits all three as the designers. Perriand’s influence in the atelier extended beyond furniture and execution of the prototypes. In 1929 she was instrumental in designing the trio’s vision of modern luxury, “Equipment for the Home,” for the Salon d’Automne; it included an entire apartment, complete with a shiny kitchen and bathroom.

Collaborations with Jean Prouvé, visits to Japan, and Les Arcs

Soon after leaving Le Corbusier’s atelier, she began working with Jean Prouvé—a designer who found his niche executing and designing metal objects such as screens and stair railings using the geometric patterns favoured by avant-garde architects. Prouvé was passionate about expressing his craft through contemporary means and materials; Perriand fully subscribed to that belief. With Prouvé’s atelier flooded with projects for the French army during the war, Perriand designed military barracks and furnishings for temporary housing. When France surrendered in 1940, the team disbanded—but would reunite in the spring of 1951. She later recalled with great fondness her deep respect and friendship with Prouvé, noting his death as a “terrible loss” for her.

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On the day the Germans arrived to occupy Paris, Perriand left France for Japan. About five weeks before her departure, she had received an enticing invitation from the Japanese embassy in Paris, requesting her expertise in industrial design for the Department of Trade Promotion, under the sponsorship of the Imperial Ministry of Commerce and Industry. In an effort to increase the flow of Japanese products to the West, the ministry was keen to place a foreigner on that task. Ostensibly, she was there to challenge the status quo among the Japanese artisans, designers, and architects. However, her own work was greatly inspired by the myriad experiences she encountered. Within about seven months of her arrival in Japan, she had requested (and was granted) an exhibition that was the culmination of her tireless and passionate research through which she engaged with artisans from traditional craftsmen to modern designers. Pervasive throughout the show was the use of natural materials such as wood and bamboo—a complete departure from the aesthetic that she had honed at Le Corbusier’s atelier. Some Japanese, wanting to move beyond those materials, viewed the exhibition as somewhat primitive and unprogressive, since many of the objects were not suitable for mass production. Negative reactions did not deter her from returning to Japan in 1955 for a second exhibition, “Proposition d’une synthese des arts” (“Proposal for a Synthesis of the Arts”).

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Perriand continued to work with former colleagues such as Prouvé, Le Corbusier, and Jeanneret while establishing new ties with others such as Fernand Léger, Brazilian architect Lúcio Costa, and Hungarian architect Ernö Goldfinger. Projects varied as well as locations: design of unadorned rustic lodges in the French Alps (1938), kitchen prototypes for Unité d’Habitation in Marseille (1950) and Tokyo (1959), and commercial interiors for Air France in London (1958). Her final and largest project—the ski resort of Les Arcs in Savoy (1967–85)—united her work and the landscape she remembered so fondly from her youth. Those designs demonstrate the caliber, value, and longevity of Perriand’s rich contribution to the profession.

Late life

In 1985 “Charlotte Perriand: Un Art de Vivre,” a substantial retrospective of her distinguished work, was put on display at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. When asked about the exhibition, she bemoaned the weight of looking backward and uncovering “things [she had] left behind long ago….” She preferred to look ahead. Reinventing her design philosophy, accepting change, and being willing to experiment kept her work relevant and suitable for highly collaborative and productive exchanges. In 1998, the year before she died, she published an autobiography, Une Vie de création (Charlotte Perriand: A Life of Creation).