The functional furniture you most wanted was created by Charlotte Perriand six decades ago

[Inkriql]

The gender could not. Nor are the aesthetic canons prevailing at the time. The fate of Charlotte Perriand was to revolutionize the furniture for our home. A work in which he highlighted and carried out with the greats. Pierre Jeanneret, Le Corbusier or Jean Prouvé were some of his collaborators in the task of inventing a new interior design.

An indisputable reference of furniture design to which the Downtown François Laffanour Gallery in Paris pays tribute to an exhibition and a book about his career. And, through its beautiful and practical objects, Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) created a new way of inhabiting interiors. Although it sounds topical, it was quite a find at the time he lived.
furniture designers
'Living with Charlotte Perriand', the book published by the Downtown Laffanour Gallery about the life and work of the designer. | Studio Shapiro / Galerie Downtown François Laffanour

The concept of domestic storage, wooden tables in their most honest form or multifunctional furniture, are ideas inherited from the architect and designer. “The first element of current affairs about Perriand is that she was a woman, was very important and had a significant place in the design of the twentieth century. As for the design, its way of sculpting wood in simple and exceptional furniture makes it fit perfectly in the style of the 21st century, ”adds Laffanour.

While an exhibition at the Louis Vuitton Foundation opens to commemorate the twenty anniversary of his death, the gallery celebrates four decades of work with the designer's pieces. He does it through a show open to the public until November 2 and a book entitled Living with Charlotte Perriand. “For us it was very important to show how Perriand's furniture works in a contemporary interior with art of this moment. We want to offer those who collect their pieces a vision of how they interact in current spaces, not to recreate the fifties, ”explains gallery owner François Laffanour.
A trio for functionality

With the unfortunate phrase "unfortunately, we don't embroider cushions here," Le Corbusier replied to a young Charlotte who applied for work in her studio. It was a world of men, but she had already managed to break down gender barriers and would do so with the architect. Shortly after and, after seeing some of his interiors accompanied by Pierre Jeanneret, he invited her to join them. During a decade of collaboration they would form a creative triangle that would define the modern architectural and interior scene.

He arrived at his studio in 1927 and joined the crusade of the hitherto duo to equip the interiors with an emerging way of life, which sought to standardize the decoration and escape any extravagance. But its role went beyond the simple rationalization of furniture. The skill with which he approached the functionality also allowed him to introduce comfort and well-being in his creations.
furniture designers
'Chaise Longue LC4' designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand for the Cassina brand. | Cassina

Throughout this period, his name would appear next to that of the two architects in the patent of the Chaise Longue LC4, although according to author Anne Bony, “Charlotte was undoubtedly the promoter of the piece. Le Corbusier conceived and developed the entire program with Jeanneret ”.

He would develop the furniture for various studio projects, establishing a link between architecture and interior design. Villa Church (1928-1929), studies for the Maison Minimum (1929), The Swiss Pavilion of the University City (1930-32) or the Refuge City of the Salvation Army were some of his works at this time.
Arrow 'to the Japanese'

The Asian country was one of Perriand's great fascinations. Contrary to any superfluous decoration, she was a great advocate that interior design and the house itself should convey peace and an atmosphere in which relationships with other people and with the world itself can be developed. And when he traveled to Japan, he found the last of his shoe. “I was passionate about this country. He traveled for the first time in 1941 to stay a few years. Throughout his life he would return twice. He immediately endorsed the tradition of minimalism and adapted it to his work, ”says Laffanour.

During his first trip, he began a systematic investigation of Japanese know-how, developing his own interpretation. After a visit to the Mingeikan Museum on native crafts and folklore he discovered the use of straw and wood bark. From the hand of Yanagi he met a network of potters, dyeing experts, as well as manufacturers of carpets and bamboo chairs.After three weeks of research, he would launch his design plan by artisans. The result was a balance between techniques and materials, industry, crafts and tradition. Its bamboo chaise longue, which dates back to 1940, is proof of this. But if something was important in Charlotte's philosophy it was to create space. In fact, his interest in storage would become almost an obsession after his Japanese experience.

After observing a way of life in which the furniture was reduced to a minimum, he fell in love with the Japanese way of life. "Furniture that they think is empty" was the way that defined their intention to create the ideal conditions to live in balance and free the mind. In this line, are his wall shelves and sideboards In Forme. These oriental ideas would also be applied to utilitarian walls, which served as room dividers and closets.
When art permeates every corner

Hanging on the wall the Mia Villiers – farrow On A Bed by Diane Arbus, represents a disbursement of 22,000 euros. But when Charlotte Perriand conceived her interiors, it was an inconceivable practice and not just for money. She was a pioneer in giving photography, not only the role of decorative element, but to place it at the same level as other types of art, without hierarchy. A vision that went against the canons of the time, and that implied a staging from functionality and utilitarianism rather than from decoration.
furniture designers
Charlotte Perriand was an unstoppable creator who continued to revolutionize design until the last years before her death. In the picture, he poses this smiling in 1991. | Robert Doisneau

With this premise, he decorated the offices of Air France around the world. He used pictures of objects he took during the twenties and thirties. "Art is in everything," was one of his favorite phrases. In 1949, during the Formes Utiles exhibition, he placed an impression with apsará dancers - from a bas-relief found in a temple in Java - next to a tapestry of Le Corbusier. By the way, I hated frames since I used to say that everything was connected.
The creation of a 'free' table

The famous image in which the designer can be seen on her back, with her naked torso, arms raised and contemplating the mountains, expresses without words her devotion to nature. “Charlotte Perriand was very close to the Alps, an area she loved and that kept her close to natural materials and folk art,” says Laffanour.

The organic forms he saw when he climbed would be an inspiration in his work and the key with which he would break with sterile rationalism. Faithful advocate that the body and movement were essential to maintain a certain harmony, incorporated these parameters into its universe.

Although he worked with plastic and metal, he felt a weakness for natural materials. “He loved the timelessness of wood. Its flexible, serene and simple aspect, ”says the journalist and contemporary art specialist Elisabeth Védrenne. This is how his works express it, such as the Free Form tables of 1962. “After the International Exhibition of Paris in 1937, Pierre put away some beams of the Temps Nouveaux Pavilion and gave them to make me a table. It was my first free-form table, which I called that because I designed it with this in mind, ”Perriand once said.
furniture designers
Wood was always Perriand's fetish material because of its nature and organic form. | Studio Shapiro / Galerie Downtown François Laffanour

His approach to natural beauty made admire the work of Scandinavian designers like Alvar Aalto, although his style remained closer to the Asian canons. His way of applying natural capital can also be seen in his cowhide armchairs and wooden structure. Another allusion to the native animals of the mountains are their tripod stools, of different sizes and with several shades of wood, and which can be arranged in a herd form.
Furniture in essence for the masses

Mass production was already present in the creations of Charlotte Perriand. Yes, long before IKEA, she participated in the democratization of furniture in order to generate a sense of well-being inside the home. At the time he worked with Le Corbusier, he began his research to bring contemporary design to as many people as possible and that marked his way of understanding the final production. But it would be with Jean Prouvé when he would create Tunisia and Mexico, two of his most iconic shelves for the University City of Paris.

I dreamed of objects that would bring stability to the world, eliminating the superfluous, everything that was meaningless, that aged poorly or went out of style. “Right after World War II, mass production began with Pierre Jeanneret. His Construction Bureau Central (BCC) began in 1947 with a list of standardized parts for the pre-war postwar situation, ”shares Laffanour.

But in France there was a great competition at that time. “There was the Art Deco generation (René Gabriel, Jules Adnet ..), that of the forties and the classicism of Gilbert Poillerat, the modernists (Louis Sognot, Jean Prouvé, Charlotte herself ...) and the emerging (Paulin, Guariche e Hitier) ”, indicates the gallery owner.

But not only was it something internal, there was also great competition internationally from Italy, the Scandinavian countries and the USA. UU. “It was not an easy period to work in mass. Therefore, Charlotte Perriand used to work on unique pieces for private clients, it was an important part of her work, ”he concludes.