Grand DESIGNS

Parisian architect Charlotte Perriand was determined to succeed in a man’s world and today is hailed as a leading figure of 20th-century design, as Sandra Haurant discovers

- Sandra Haurant

There was once a young Parisian woman – talented, ambitious and strong-willed – who wanted to progress in her chosen career in design and architecture. Bold and unintimidated, the young woman went to meet a well-known man in his offices and told him plainly that she wanted to work with him. But he was not interested – and his response was curt and dismissive: “We don’t embroider cushions here,” he said. The year was 1927 and the young woman was Charlotte Perriand, today hailed as one of the leading figures of 20th-century design.

The man who sent her away? Le Corbusier, the Swiss-born architect who had already made a name for himself as a pioneer in the field. Luckily for them both, his decision was not final – within the year Le Corbusier realised he had made a mistake.

He saw Perriand’s work on show at the 1927 Salon d’Automne in Paris – a reproduction of the Bar Under the Roof, a compact social space designed for Charlotte’s own little Parisian apartment – and was won over by the simplicity, originality and practicality he saw in her design. He offered her a job and she began working with him and his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret. It was the beginning of a decade of successful collaboration for the studio, and for Charlotte Perriand, the start of a remarkable career as a woman in a very male industry.

Perriand’s talent and will to succeed meant she carved out a path in a milieu that appeared hostile to women but according to her daughter, Pernette Perriand, she never considered her gender to be a barrier.