SPOTLIGHT ON: CHARLOTTE PERRIAND AND LES ARCS

Charlotte Perriand (October 24, 1903 - October 27, 1999), French architect and designer, trained at Ecole de L'Union Centrale de Arts Decoratifs from 1920 to 1925 in furniture design. Perriand’s interest toward egalitarian design with simple materials led her to work with Le Corbusier where she designed furniture. She later worked as an architect, maintaining her interest in industrialization and modernization. Leaving a mark in Art Deco, machine-age modernism, the rustic 1930’s and 40’s, populist modern furniture of the 50’s and 60’s, as well as the prefabricated bathroom and kitchen units popular in the 70’s, Perriand’s versatility allowed her to maintain an influential status and cemented her as a pioneering figure in modernism. Perriand’s own work encompassed a wide range of projects and countries. She designed bamboo furniture in Japan, lobbies for Air France in London and Tokyo, and workers’ housing in the Sahara. She always explored the possibilities of new materials.

Les Arc, a ski resort in the French Alps, was constructed between 1967 and 1985. The areas of the resort are named for their altitudes: Les Arcs 1800, made up of four pedestrian villages, sits at 1800 meters above sea level. Because of the short timeframe for building due to mountain weather, the different specialties needed to complete bathrooms, and the difficulty of building on a mountain, Perriand designed prefabricated bathrooms that could be assembled offsite then simply “plugged in” during construction. Prefabricated building techniques were intriguing to many designers at the rise of modernity and this project was one of the most effective and large in scale. At the heart of the Les Arcs project, there were three determining notions: (1) respect for the beauty of the natural landscape, (2) the preservation of the existing mountain chalet structures, and (3) utilization of materials local to the area. With this in mind, Perriand then applied her high-modern aesthetic to the creation of these ski lodges. The rooms were minimally furnished to encourage guests to spend most of their time outside; the buildings opened up to the light and surrounding natural beauty of the mountains. Les Arcs quickly became the new standard for the Alpine skiing environment.  

Perriand’s work at Les Arcs was highlighted in our 2018 exhibition “Perriand in the Mountains”. The pieces above are available for purchase to bring Perriand’s vision of the French Alps into your space.