Charlotte Perriand (24 October 1903 - 27 October 1999) was a French architect and designer. Her work aimed to create functional living spaces in the belief that better design helps in creating a better society. In her article "L'Art de Vivre" from 1981 she states, "The extension of the art of dwelling is the art of living-living in harmony with man's deepest drives and with his adopted or fabricated environment." Charlotte liked to take her time in a space before starting the design process. Her approach to design includes taking in the site and appreciating it for what it is. Perriand connected with any site she was working with or just visiting she enjoyed the living things and would reminisce on a site that was presumed dead. She is well known for the playful way in which she mixed and superposed materials and styles in most of the furniture she created during her career. Nonetheless, one of the most essential influence on her entire work has been the Japanese craftmanship that kept on inspiring her.

An affordable, concise survey on the influential modernist designer's interiors, buildings, furniture and more, from a sawtooth ski resort to sculptural chaises longues From the onset of her career, Charlotte Perriand was a maverick who believed in good design as a force for the betterment of society. Many young designers would be devastated by a rejection from Le Corbusier's studio, but when the great architect told her they had no use for a female furniture designer, Perriand only became more determined to prove her mettle as an artist. Under Le Corbusier, and long after she left his studio, Perriand's contributions to both furniture design and architecture demonstrated a unique attention to the organic artistry of nature as well as the egalitarian possibilities of the machine age. Her leftwing populist politics motivated much of her work, from modular furniture systems to major architectural projects. This monograph explores Perriand's most famous interiors, original furniture and architectural projects, as well as her never-before-seen sketchbooks, shedding new light on her creative process and place in design history. Charlotte Perriand (1903-99) experienced the first breakthrough in her career with Le Bar sous le toit, a 1927 interior design piece that predicted the elegant minimalism and utilitarian nature of her future work. Although today she is perhaps best known for her early chaise longue designs, Perriand also created the plans for a number of major buildings across Europe and contributed interior designs to Le Corbusier's Unit d'habitation. She worked in places as diverse as Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and London in her pursuit of accessible design.

What is this 'new world' imagined by architect and designer Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999)? How did she reconceive our relationship with the natural world and the role of art in everyday life? The answers provided by this pioneer of modernity seem astonishingly relevant to us today. Published on the occassion of the Fondation Louis Vuitton's major retrospective dedicated to Charlotte Perriand and her links with the artists and architects of her era, this book offers a fresh interpretation of her work, which was characterized by commitment and freedom. Edited by Sébastien Cherruet and Jacques Barsac, with contributions from international authors, it presents an approach that is both chronological and thematic, inviting us on a journey of creativity through the twentieth century.

Perriand's career embraced Art Deco, machine-age modernism, the organic rusticity of the 1930s, serially produced metal and wood furniture in the '50s and '60s, and plastic and prefabricated units in the '70s. This volume contains texts by leading scholars covering many facets of her work and life.

"A major figure of modernism in the 1930s and inextricably linked with the name of Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand was also a major protagonist of the organis forms of the 1950s. She was not only a pioneer of design in the twentieth century, but also a free spirited, generous woman with a fascinating story. We owe her credit for her design contributions promoting a very functional way of everyday life. Today, she has been rediscovered for much of her vital energy as for the simple, precise, natural shapes of her furniture and integrated spaces." --Publisher description.

In 1927, when 24-year-old Charlotte Perriand (1903–1999) walked into Le Corbusier's studio and asked him to hire her as a furniture designer, he responded, "We don't embroider cushions here." After seeing her remarkable designs, however, Le Corbusier enjoyed a long collaboration with Perriand, who would go on to work as an architect, town planner, and political activist. This revelatory book is the first to show Perriand's photography, an important tool in her creative process and intellectual development, and a reflection of her political views. Made from the late 1920s through 1941, these striking images, many previously unpublished, testify to the collaborative spirit of the avant-garde movement, in which painters, architects, and photographers worked together to achieve creative breakthroughs.