Charlotte Perriand

France

Person

Designer

Born 24 October 1903 Paris, France Died 27 October 1999 Paris, France Charlotte Perriand studied interior design at the École de l’Union centrale des arts décoratifs in Paris from 1921 to 1925. Her works 'Coin de salon' and 'Le Bar sous le toit', presented at the Paris Salons in 1926 and 1927, brought her early recognition. In 1927 she designed her first tubular steel furniture for the 'Salle à manger' and began collaborating with Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. Together they developed an influential range of tubular steel furniture, presented at the Salon d’automne in 1929. In the same year she became a founding member of the Union d’artistes modernes (UAM). During the 1930s she produced photographic studies of Art brut and contributed to exhibitions in Brussels and Paris, including the photomontage 'La Grande Misère de Paris'. After leaving the Atelier Le Corbusier-Jeanneret in 1937, she worked with Pierre Jeanneret and Jean Prouvé on furniture projects. Her stays in Japan from 1940 to 1942 and from 1953 to 1955 strengthened her engagement with Japanese design and its relationship to modernism. From 1946 she collaborated occasionally with Le Corbusier on projects including the Unité d’habitation in Marseille and the Maison du Brésil in Paris. Her later achievements included the development of the Les Arcs winter sports resort, collaboration with Galerie Steph Simon, and the design of a teahouse for UNESCO in Paris. In 1983 she was named Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur.