Charlotte Perriand

Born in Paris in 1903, she was an unconventional and avant-garde artist. Architect and designer, she marked the history of contemporary art and was one of the few women artists who in the first decades of last century managed to establish themselves at a professional and personal level.

Collaborator and head of interior design at Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret's studio, in the 30s she gave life to some pieces of furniture that soon became a cult. She grew a keen interest in group work and the integration of architecture and interior spaces design, collaborating in projects such as the Unité d'Habitation in Marseilles. The starting point of her design philosophy was the development of new materials such as steel, aluminum and glass, put at the service of everyday life improvement.

She participated in the Fourth Congress of CIAM ( Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne ) and her work was strongly influenced by her stay in Japan. With a group of local craftsmen, she created a series of unforgettable furniture items and everyday objects using materials such as bamboo. Perriand went on to re-elaborate Japanese tradition in all her later works, with a new spirit of multicultural integration that now results fascinating in its simple spontaneity.