PERRIAND Charlotte

After studying at the École de l’Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs, Charlotte Perriand collaborated on the avant-garde research of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret for home furnishings. Her work touched on urban planning as well as architecture and the interior design of apartments. After the Second World War, her thinking on modern architecture took on a human dimension and began to be influenced by her pro-communist commitment, as evidenced by many of the community facilities programs she created in the 1950s – student rooms at the Cité Universitaire in Paris, etc. A free and passionate woman, Charlotte Perriand also left her mark on the history of design through her personality, her travels and her special relationship with nature. Strongly influenced by Japanese and Brazilian cultures, she began working with wood, straw and bamboo, which became her favorite materials. She designed the Japanese House in Paris in 1957 and then the Japanese Embassy in 1966. A great mountain enthusiast, Charlotte Perriand also collaborated, between 1967 and 1986, on the creation of the Les Arcs ski resort. Throughout her work, this theoretician of the art of living demonstrates a constant search for harmonious relationships between man and his environment. Today, she is considered one of the most famous furniture designers of the 50s.