Charlotte Perriand

Through luck, fate or simply the power of her own genius, Charlotte Perriand designed a roof-top bar for the Salon d'Automne which drew the attention of Le Corbusier. Upon seeing the anodized aluminum and chromed steel furniture that Perriand had designed for the bar, the famed Corbusier invited Perriand to join the Le Corbusier studio.

For the next ten years, Perriand participated in the designs issued from the Le Corbusier studio, including the first tubular steel designs for systematized furnishings known as "Equipment de l'habitation" (1928-1929). Hard-edged, severely functional, the collection reflected strict ideas about moral and physical fitness. The best known of this group is the LC4 chaise longue. Perriand also collaborated with Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret in the design of the Grand Confort armchair (1928) which epitomizes the International Style.

Perriand and Jeanneret again collaborated in founding the UAM Union des Artistes Modernes where she began to exhibit under her own name in 1931. In 1940, together with Jeanneret, Jean Prouve and George Blanchon, Perriand established an architectural office for the design of prefabricated aluminum buildings. Over the next three decades, Perriand continued to design buildings, interiors and furniture notably a prototype kitchen for Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation, the London office for Air France and conference rooms for the United Nations in Geneva.

Although Charlotte Perriand is best remembered for her elegant modernist tubular steel furniture of the 1920's and 1930's, she also produced craft-based designs, such as the diminutive Synthese des Arts chair (1955). In addition to Le Corbusier, Perriand also colloborated with sculptor Fernand Leger and architect Jean Prouvé. She is one of the most remarkable figures in the development of modernist design.