Courageous, free, bold, independent. Full of curiosity, expectations, and unlimited creativity. Always keeping her cool. Focused on her life and living in the moment.

This is Charlotte Perriand, the only female designer in the 20th century, Le Corbusier's best partner.

In her design career spanning 70 years, Perriand constantly subverted herself. She often said: "Anything is possible. There’s more than one answer." This year marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of Charlotte Perriand. To pay tribute to her extraordinary life and work, this article will take you back to the legendary life of this icon in design history.

Perriand had the bold spirit and vision to embrace the modernity that was storming the world at that time, and she played a key role in creating a new world through design and architectural work. In her work, tradition and modernity co-existed, nature and individual conversed, and culture and art fused across boundaries. Arguably, her work is key to understanding contemporary and 20th century art and its intellectual interactions with other domains. 

Charlotte Perriand was born in 1903 (the year when women became eligible for the prestigious Rome Architecture Prize). Both her parents were tailors, and the various crafts they mastered fascinated her from a young age. In 1920, Perriand began to study furniture design at the Ecole de L'Union Centrale de Arts Decoratifs. Although Le Corbusier famously rejected her when she applied for work at his studio at the age of 24, she became a member of Le Corbusier after they met again at the Paris Autumn Salon, where she had designed the furniture made of glass, metal and aluminum for the exhibition’s Glacier House Bar. She would become the most important member of Le Corbusier’s design team and became a design legend who left a legacy of countless classics.

Δ Innovative chair for Bar Sous Le Toit. Glacier House Bar in Paris, 1927

At that time, Perriand also began to study photography, discovering the "laws of nature" in urban and rural environments from the photos she took, and became the first designer to use photography in furniture and interior design. To her, photography was a process of analysis, thinking and recording, not creating a style. Maintaining her curiosity and keen observation was also key to Perriand's success.

In 1928, three designers jointly designed the Chaise Longue Chair LC4. From concept to design to realization, Charlotte Perriand was deeply involved. The rational structure, comfortable sitting and lying, and the curve of the steel frame created a unique beauty that has lasted until our day. It is a classic in the history of furniture and design.

"Let housing return to its essence of living, rather than cater to the aesthetics of complex decoration. Whether architecture or furniture, we should follow a humanistic spirit and design concepts that put people at the center.” This is the main reason for many people to select from the LC Master Collection. 

ΔA part of design manuscripts

Although Perriand was responsible for the design of many famous works of the studio, in the patriarchal society of the time, she received little credit for them. Yet, she maintained her focused creativity. Perriand mingled with the most active artists and thinkers of the 20th century, such as the famous painter Fernand Leger, among many others. Under the influence of their advanced ideas, Perriand's design thinking also underwent radical change.In 1937, Perriand left Le Corbusier's studio and began researching wood as a material. At this time, the tubular steel furniture of the "house-as-a-machine age" was transformed into a lyrical and naturalist version of wood.

ΔWorking with Junzo Sakakura in Japan, 1941

In 1952, Perriand did the interior design for Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation residential project in Marseille. This modular kitchen later came to be called the Marseille kitchen and became an iconic representative of the open kitchen.

Spacious, private and sunny, the living room is fitted with an open kitchen, close to the dining table and with 1.33 m high cabinets, which conceal the clutter in the kitchen and also may serve as dish presentation tables and side cabinets. After Perriand's meticulous creation, the kitchen again became the center of living with an emphasis on transparency, integration, and openness, which have become very familiar to many people today. In addition, a combined wardrobe and bookcase system designed by Perriand took the modular concept to its furthest extreme. The storage unit sizes were designed according to rather fixed items such as clothing or documents. Such customizable storage systems are now very mainstream and used by millions of people.

Δ Working with Roger Godino, Les Arcs Resort Hotel Savoie, France, 1967

Clearly, Perriand's design has given people a way of life for the coming decades. As a great female designer of global importance in the world, her works are not only exquisite in taste and simple in design, but her exploration and pursuit of novelty, attention to detail and innovation, and strong interest in social affairs continue to influence us to this day. Come discover the LC Master Collection of new furniture and much more at the PWG Atelier in our Beijing showroom.