Charlotte Perriand, Set of four chairs and two stools in pine, 1960’s

Charlotte Perriand, attributed to.

Set of four chairs and two stools in solid pine.

Chair and stools standing on four rectangular legs linked each other with two side rails and joined by a central stretcher. Square seat constituted by two convex wood planks. Chairs have the upper back is tilted backward and made of two horizontal top rails slightly curved and stand on two lateral rails.

Work realized in the 1960’s.

Dimmensions :

Chair : Height 79 cm x 43 cm width x 43 cm depth; seat height 45 cm.
Tabouret : Height 45 cm x 42,5 cm width x 36,5 cm depth.

Chairs and stools coming from a studio from the residence “La Cascade” of the ski station Les Arcs 1600.

See studios CAS533 for 3 people or CAS556 for 4.

Les Arcs ski station was created thanks to the meeting of Robert Blanc, city counselor of Bourg-Saint-Maurice and the real estate developer Roger Godino. They called several architects and invited Charlotte Perriand to integrate the project; she worked on it since 1967 for 20 years.

The first historical place of les Arcs is Les Arcs 1600, inaugurated in 1968 and mainly constituted by private residencies. In 1974, Les Arcs 1800 is launched with this time more habitations for rental. These residential homes illustrate the beliefs of the architect that wants to highlight the place of nature by forbidding cars, create homes not overlooked and set up large bay windows and balconies. These projects allow Charlotte Perriand to precise and deepen her researches about the collective housing: all is thought to be functional, modular to conform to small spaces and then furniture is standardized with material referring to nature: solid pine, for example.

Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) was a French architect and designer who studied at the Ecole de l’Unité Centrale des Arts Décoratifs (*School of the Central Union of the Decorative Arts) in Paris from 1920 to 1925. At the French Salon d’Automne in 1927, she drew Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret’s attention with her chromed steel and aluminum furniture; she collaborated with them for more than 10 years.

In 1929, the three designers quit the Société des Artistes Décorateurs (SAD) (*Society of Decorator Artists) after a disagreement with the jury and created the Union des Artistes Modernes (UAM )(*Union of Modern Artists).

She left on a trip to Japan in 1942 for two years, she was a counselor for industrial art, at the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. During her travel, the architecture and the popular furniture, functional and economical, inspired her. After some years in Indochina, she came back in France at the end of war and got back to her designer and architect work by multiplying projects: furniture of mountain cabins at Méribel, prototype of a kitchen for the Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation (Home Unity) in Marseille, Air France London offices, conference rooms for the United Nations in Geneva, Les Arcs ski station, etc.

During her second trip to Japan in 1953, she realized the exhibition Synthesis of arts illustrating the association of plastic arts and interior furniture. Her last project was the UNESCO tearoom inspired by Japanese tea pavilions and realized in 1993.

During her whole career, she put on the front functionalism and a humanist vision by mixing occidental and oriental design.

Sources :

BARSAC J., Charlotte Perriand : l’oeuvre complète. Volume 3 1956-1968,Éditions Norma, Paris, 2017,

BARSAC J., Charlotte Perriand et le Japon, Norma, Paris, 2018

CINQUALBRE O., MIGAYROU F., ZUCHELLI A.-M., UAM, Une aventure moderne [cat.expo.], Paris, Centre Pompidou (30 mai 2018-27 août 2018), Paris, Editions du Centre Pompidou, 2018

FIELL C. & P., Design du XXe siècle, Taschen Bibliotheca Universalis, Cologne, 2018, p.554-555

RÉMY C. (dir.), Création en France Arts Décoratifs 1945-1965, Gourcuff Gradenigo, 2009, p.252

QUINTON M., “Vacances d’initiés : sur les pas de Charlotte Perriand aux Arcs”, Site France.f, https://www.france.fr/fr/alpes-mont-blanc/liste/vacances-d%27inities-sur-les-pas-de-charlotte-perriand-aux-arcs. Consulté le 4 juin 2019

QUINTON M.,, Site Ideat, , “Les Arcs : la station créée par Charlotte Perriand fête ses 50 ans”, https://ideat.thegoodhub.com/2018/12/07/ski-la-mythique-station-les-arcs-a-50-ans/. Consulté le 4 juin 2019