Charlotte Perriand: Ten Pieces and Their Editions

Charlotte Perriand: Ten Pieces and Their Editions

Charlotte Perriand holds a place of her own in twentieth-century modern furniture. Long overshadowed by the better-known figures of the rue de Sèvres studio, she is now recognised as one of the most rigorous interior architects of her generation. Her vocabulary of raw wood, black steel, low lines and modular units shaped a good part of post-war French furniture, from mountain refuges to student rooms. On the vintage market, how easily her pieces can be found varies a great deal from one edition to another. What follows is a reference, not a price guide: the pieces that matter, their historical manufacturers and what to examine before buying.

Biographical landmarks

Charlotte Perriand was born in Paris in 1903. She graduated from the École de l'Union centrale des arts décoratifs in 1925 and drew attention in 1927 with her Bar sous le toit at the Salon d'automne, an aluminium and chrome interior that broke with the Art Deco ornament then in fashion. Le Corbusier took her into his studio the same year. From 1927 to 1937 she worked with Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret on furniture for the home, which produced the models now known as LC1, LC2, LC3, LC4 and LC7. These seats are signed by all three authors, and a caption that leaves out Perriand is historically incomplete.

From 1940 she lived in Japan as adviser for industrial arts to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, an experience that lastingly shaped her approach to wood, empty space and modularity. She returned to France in 1946, after several years in Indochina. The 1950s and 1960s brought her major commissions: the Les Arcs ski resort in Savoie, the Air France agency in London, and the interiors of the Maison de la Tunisie and the Maison du Brésil at the Cité internationale universitaire in Paris. She died in 1999.

Ten reference pieces

Nuage bookshelf (Galerie Steph Simon, 1950s). Modular, in folded painted aluminium, with wooden blocks and removable partitions. Original configurations produced by Steph Simon between roughly 1956 and 1974 are the most sought after. Cassina has reissued versions under the Nuage name since the 2010s; the two markets should be kept apart.

Berger stool (Galerie Steph Simon, 1950s). A solid pine tripod with a turned seat, very typical of her mountain furniture. It appears in several interiors at Les Arcs. Reissued by Cassina in the Hommage à Charlotte Perriand collection.

Tokyo chaise longue (Cassina). A bamboo version of the chaise longue, born of her work in Japan in 1940-1942. Reissues are common; historical bamboo versions are rare.

Free-form table (1950s). A top with free-flowing outlines on a wooden base, made in several lengths. Examples presented as original Steph Simon pieces should be examined carefully to confirm the attribution.

LC2, LC3, LC4 (with Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, 1928). The tubular chrome armchairs and the LC4 chaise longue (the B306 at Thonet, which produced it in the 1930s) have been made exclusively by Cassina since 1965. A piece with no Cassina marking, or Thonet marking for early examples, calls for rigorous checking.

Tunisie bookshelf (1952). Designed for the Maison de la Tunisie at the Cité internationale universitaire in Paris. Coloured blocks, wood and lacquered steel shelves. Original configurations are rare.

Refuge Tonneau, related furniture (1938 project with Pierre Jeanneret). The refuge was not produced in series at the time, but related pieces (stools, benches) do circulate.

Méribel chair (1950s-1960s). Rush seat and pine frame, from her mountain commissions. Often confused with other Savoyard chairs, so provenance is decisive.

Air France London console (1957-1959). Desks and consoles made for the Air France agency in London. These belong more to museums than to the residential market.

Maison du Brésil armchair (1959). Leather and wood, with a low seat. Produced in small series.

Reading the vintage market

Three distinctions organise this market. The first separates the historical Galerie Steph Simon editions (roughly 1956-1974) from Cassina reissues (since 1965 for the LC pieces, since the 2000s-2010s for the Hommage collection). Steph Simon pieces rarely carry a visible stamp, which makes provenance documents (invoices, period photographs, gallery archives) decisive. The second concerns the LC pieces: the LC2, LC3 and LC4 are not by Perriand alone, and a serious caption names all three authors. The third is about materials. Pine on the mountain pieces develops a grey patina under the wax; an even blond tone suggests recent treatment or a reissue. The chrome on early Thonet LCs has a slightly warm tone that recent reissues do not always reproduce.

Cassina markings, serial number and signatures, are a point to check. For wooden pieces produced by BCB or Sentou, markings are rare, and identification relies on period catalogues and comparison with documented pieces.

The market today

Institutional recognition of Charlotte Perriand, with the 2019 retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton and the exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, has changed the way her work is seen. Long regarded as a secondary name next to Le Corbusier, she is now read as the author of a body of work of her own, coherent and attentive to use, light, local materials and modularity. For a buyer, this is an invitation to look beyond the object: the original commission, the client, the gallery that produced it.

These exhibitions have pushed up the prices of the rarest pieces. Alongside them, there are series pieces, recent Cassina editions and more modest objects (lights, accessories, drawings), which are more accessible and still tied to a documented name. For anyone who wants to live with a piece by Perriand without treating it as an investment, that is the place to look.

The Charlotte Perriand pieces we offer are gathered on her designer page, and Cassina editions, when we have them, on the Cassina page.