Charlotte Perriand: The Modern Life

Wonderful exhibition at the Design Museum on the life and work of 20th century designer Charlotte Perriand.

Perriand began by working for Le Corbusier but the work she did for him went uncredited. For him she developed the classic steel framed chairs and in one section of the show there were modern reproductions you could sit in. They were so comfortable.

I loved the room recreations including her 1927 flat which included an extendable table with a rubber top which rolled out of the wall. I just loved her economy of space. Later on their were modular book cases which you can still see in shops today.

In the 1930s she moved into more organic forms and I fell in love with her Boomerang desk. It looked so ergonomic and practical. She spent time in Japan in the Second World War and designed the carpet shown here based on sailors graffiti on the ship she travelled over on.

She went on to design travel agencies for Air France and a fabulous ski resort Les Arc which houses 30,000 people at three altitudes. The exhibition has an example of the prefabricated bathrooms and kitchens it uses.

I just wanted so much of the stuff in this show and loved the quote from Perriand “without well planned storage, empty space in the home becomes impossible”.

Closes 5 September 2021

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