PERRIAND Charlotte

Charlotte PERRIAND

France (1903 - 1999)

From 1927 to 1937 Charlotte Perriand worked with Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret. She was responsible for the furniture designs for their “machines for living”. Perriand deserves credit for design of most of the furniture rendered in the Le Corbusier office during this time, with the possible exception of case goods. This furniture work included 1928 LC 1 sling chair, 1928 LC 4 chaise longue, 1929 LC 7 revolving small armchair, and 1955 Synthèse des Arts, Tokyo chair. In 1930, Charlotte Perriand met Fernand Leger, beginning a long-standing friendship. In 1940, Perriand, Jean Prouvé, Pierre Jeanneret and Georges Blanchon set up an office in the rue La Cases in Paris to design temporary prefabricated housing in aluminium, including huts, dormitories, dining halls, art rooms, and factory extensions. In 1940, she was invited by the Japanese ministry of commerce and trade to become an advisor on arts and crafts, like Bruno Taut in 1933. She mounted two exhibitions on French design there. In 1946, she returned to France and, 1946-49, designed furnishings for the holiday resorts in Méribel, Savoie. In 1950, Perriand produced kitchen prototypes for the building Unite d’Habitation in Marseilles by Le Corbusier and, in 1953, furnishings for the Maison de l’Etudiant on the rue Saint-Jacques in Paris and in the Hôtel de France in Conakry. Charlotte Perriand et Jean Prouvé’s 1953 bookcases for the Maison de la Tunisie at the Cité Universitaire in the south of Paris were widely published, as were their 118 in. long and low table for the Maison de l’Etudiant. 1955-74, Galerie Steph Simon produced Perriand’s and Jean Prouvé’s furniture. In 1957, she designed furnishings for the Air France airline office in London and, in 1959, furnishings for the student and common rooms of the Brazilian House in the Cite Universitaire, built by Le Corbusier and Lucio Costa. 1959-70, Charlotte Perriand participated in the refurbishment of various conference rooms of the United Nations, Geneva. In 1964-82, she designed the interior and furnishings for hotel in Les Arcs, Savoie.

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