Charlotte Perriand

Charlotte Perriand was born in Paris, France, in 1903. The daughter of a tailor and a seamstress, she grew up with an appreciation of materials and craftsmanship that would shape her practical, function-led approach to design. She studied furniture design at the École de l’Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs from 1920 to 1925, before exhibiting her work to establish her reputation. Inspired by Le Corbusier’s books, she sought an opportunity to work with him; after seeing her designs, he recognised a shared outlook and hired her. Perriand later travelled to Japan at the invitation of the Japanese embassy to work for the Department of Trade Promotion, helping to encourage the flow of Japanese products to the West.

Perriand helped shape modern interiors by treating furniture and spaces as tools for living rather than vehicles for personal expression. Her work responded to social conditions and everyday needs rather than stylistic trends, contributing to some of early modernism’s most recognisable pieces, even when her authorship was not fully acknowledged. This belief in the connection between design and daily life underpinned her broad understanding of creativity.

“There is art in everything, whether it be in action, a vase, a glass, a sculpture, a jewel, a way of being.” - Charlotte Perriand