Charlotte Perriand visited Japan in 1953 and stayed for nearly two years. While there, she designed the furnishings for the official residence of her husband, the director of Air France’s operations in Asia. ‘Although the house was traditional’, she wrote, ‘the ground level had a wooden floor which meant that I could have tables, chairs, and a sofa – a minimum Western touch. The first story had a tatami floor […], sliding partitions, and windows. This was a real traditional house.’ For this space, she designed a triangular table, stool, bench, and the stackable lounge chair shown here, whose Japanese-style seat is just 27 cm off the floor, instead of the usual 43 cm. The chair was fitted with wooden slats to support the cuboid seat and back cushions, and the angled seat originally rested on a solid wooden bracket at either side. When preparing her Proposition d’une synthèse des arts, a major exhibition of her work held at the Takashimaya department store in Tokyo on 1 April 1955, Perriand modified the chair by replacing the solid wood with bent plywood brackets and giving it the name Ombre.
Text: Arthur Rüegg
