2022.03.11
Special column: Celebrating International Women's Day Live beyond gender 2.
Writer Lee Jieun
Lee Jieun is a writer on decorative art and object art. She studied decorative art. She is currently living in France. Her books include The Age of the Nobility, The Bourgeois Age and Objects in the History of Art.
For you, leading your life beyond
Let’s follow in her footsteps a bit further. Her life is simply too significant and too valuable to be summarized in this short article though. After she made her name in the world of architecture with her Bar Sous le Toit, Charlotte Perriand joined Le Corbusier’s studio and there she found a notion that thereafter, she pursued throughout her life as a designer and an architect.
Good design is for everyone
She said in an interview with Techniques et Architecture that architecture lasts long when it embraces people and their time and that it can make people either happy or sad.
1. LC1 armchair with elaborate iron frames and stylish leather.
2. A long chair with a round tube that supports the entire chair. B036
The exhibition “Charlotte Perriand Inventing a New World”, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2 October 2019 to 24 February 2020 "Charlotte Perriand, Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret - Interior equipment of a home - Salon d'Automne 1929" Reconstitution 2019 with the participation of Cassina & Sice Previt as well as the scientific council of Arthur Ruegg - View of the installation, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris - October 2 2019 - February 24, 2020. Artists credits: © F.L.C. / Adagp, Paris, 2019 © PJ / Adagp, Paris, 2019 © Charlotte Perriand / Adagp, Paris, 2019 Photo credit: © Fondation Louis Vuitton / David Bordes
We don't embroider cushions here,” said Le Corbusier when she was accepted to the studio where she met her lifelong friends, Pierre Jeanneret and Junzo Sakakura. Born of their free, unimpeded and beautiful friendship was the famous armchair known today as B306. It was said that Le Corbusier showed her a few examples including the rocking chair by Thonet and let her do her work, designing furniture for two of his projects, Villa La Roche and Villa Church. Apart from B306, Charlotte Perriand played a central role in LC8, LC7 and LC1 known to be designed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret.
Charlotte Perriand, sitting in B306
The exhibition catalogue for “Charlotte Perriand Inventing a New World”, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2 October 2019 to 24 February 2020
Overshadowed by the popularity of B306 housed in the Vitra Design Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and her other works sold for the highest price at design auctions, but the most important value she learned at Le Corbusier’s studio was new design for everyone. A space that caters perfectly to human needs in its form and design, furniture through which man can understand his time, l’esprit nouveau for homme nouveau – her thoughts and beliefs in her new approach to architecture and furniture were reflected in her works, and her actions. Ironically, original pieces by Charlotte Perriand currently sold for astronomical prices are from collective housing projects, for example school dormitory or apartment building, not from private projects for rich collectors.
1. Tabouret Berger stool with 3 legs.
2. Ombra Tokyo chair with design borrowed from Japanese Origami tradition.
The exhibition “Charlotte Perriand Inventing a New World”, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2 October 2019 to 24 February 2020 « Charlotte Perriand - Central core of the exhibition Proposal of a synthesis of the arts, Paris 1955. Le Corbusier, Fernand Léger, Charlotte Perriand, Tokyo 1955 » - View of the installation, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris - October 2 2019 - February 24, 2020. Artist credit: © Adagp, Paris, 2019 ; © F.L.C. / Adagp, Paris, 2019 Photo credit: © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage
The exhibition catalogue for “Charlotte Perriand Inventing a New World”, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2 October 2019 to 24 February 2020
Her authentic Tabouret Berger stool was designed for Les Arcs ski Ressort, Savoie in 1967 and her kitchen furniture was first exhibited at Cite Radieuse, Marseille designed by Le Corbusier. Bookcase, a favorite of her fans was drawn from the school dormitory project for international students. The colorful aluminum panels are easy to use. The nuage bookcase was made from fir wood, readily available in Europe. The bookcase is functional and practical because it can be used as a partition, allowing efficient use of a small studio space for students.
The profession of architecture is to work for man
The exhibition catalogue for “Charlotte Perriand Inventing a New World”, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2 October 2019 to 24 February 2020
Charlotte Perriand was one of few designers who were not hesitant to raise voice against stereotypes and war. In 1929, she and a group of architects and designers including Eileen Gray, Pierre Chareau, René Herbst and Mallet-Stevens together founded the Union des Artistes Modernes (UAM) and went against the established French society of designers of furniture, interiors, and decorative art in favor of the ostentatious tradition of luxury and the wealthy urban elite. They emphasized the development of new art, and new design that is practical and affordable to meet the needs of modern people.
She was also a leading member of AEAR formed of the Association des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires (AEAR), a French association of revolutionary artists and writers who were against Nazism, along with Signac and Andre Malraux. During the Spanish Civil War, which had a huge influence on Europe in the 1930s, she spoke out against Franco and paid tribute to Picasso’s Guernica in support of the republicanism. That's how she proudly voiced her opinion as an individual.
She was also a leading member of AEAR formed of the Association des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires (AEAR), a French association of revolutionary artists and writers who were against Nazism, along with Signac and Andre Malraux. During the Spanish Civil War, which had a huge influence on Europe in the 1930s, she spoke out against Franco and paid tribute to Picasso’s Guernica in support of the republicanism. That's how she proudly voiced her opinion as an individual.
The ski resort mark (ARC) designed by Charlotte Perrien 1969.
The exhibition catalogue for “Charlotte Perriand Inventing a New World”, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2 October 2019 to 24 February 2020
After World War II, she fell into traditional techniques that had originated in Japan and Indo-China, and began using natural materials, such as wood and stone, instead of metal. She did a sketch of naturally shaped rocks called suiseki and collected natural materials through which she learned the shapes of whales and fish, and the lifecycle of a tree. “For me, the main subject has always been man, and not the object itself,” she said and dedicated the last years of her life to observing human in nature, harmony and emptiness.
A small chalet in Meribel, Savoie region of France where she spent most of her later years, offered the best view of a blanket of fog artfully draped over the mountain with rays of sunlight shining down upon it at dawn.
A small chalet in Meribel, Savoie region of France where she spent most of her later years, offered the best view of a blanket of fog artfully draped over the mountain with rays of sunlight shining down upon it at dawn.
The exhibition “Charlotte Perriand Inventing a New World”, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2 October 2019 to 24 February 2020
Visitors at « Charlotte Perriand Inventing a New World » Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris - 2 Octobre 2019 - 24 Février 2020.
Artist credit: © Adagp, Paris, 2019. Photo credit: © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Felix Cornu
Her chalet, made from wood and exposed stone, had a rather simple interior, with Meribel Chair seemingly fitted in a rustic setting and Meribel Stool that she particularly loved for allowing her to have an unobstructed view of the horizon. No nails or glue were used, only elaborately carved wood joints as in the olden days. At her chalet, she wrote:
“Work and consume, an infernal circle in which life's sublime beauty is ignored. The subject is man and our still latent faculties are begging to blossom. That is the reason why we should rethink our society, economy, and philosophy. What do we want to be? How do we want to live? Do we live in harmony? How can we be sure that we are improving ourselves?”
During the 1970s and 1980s, when consumerism and globalization swept the world, she asked herself these questions as we today ask ourselves and the answer she found was, "Living is about bringing to life what is within us."
Charlotte Perriand was an architect who worked for a better world in which everyone could flourish to their fullest potential. I'd like to ask you all, in your youth to remember her voice. If you are questioning yourself at any point in your life, or if you are hesitant to make an important life decision, Perriand's message could help you: Make a choice that brings your full self to life, one that awakens you.
Charlotte Perriand
The exhibition catalogue for “Charlotte Perriand Inventing a New World”, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2 October 2019 to 24 February 2020
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