Wright Auction

Charlotte Perriand boarded the Japanese ocean liner Hakusanmaru just one day after the German army captured Paris in 1941. She had been invited one month prior by the Imperial Ministry of Commerce and Industry, at the suggestion of Sori Yanagi, to serve as an industrial design consultant to the Department of Trade Promotion. Many years later in her autobiography, Perriand would remember the day she left with uncertainty, saying, “When I left Paris, I’d been at a crossroads that had inexorably led me to a place I didn’t know, hadn’t even suspected existed. My luggage should have stayed on the platform at the Gare de Lyon. I shouldn’t have taken the train to Marseilles that day.” Europe and Asia were engulfed in conflict, and Japan took advantage of the occupation of France to extend its military control over French Indochina. Perriand, of course, had no way to know that her time spent in Asia would result in some of the most significant changes to her life; she later recalled “Is that what’s known as destiny?”

In the years leading up to her time abroad, Perriand had undergone a series of changes of her own. In 1937 Perriand left Le Corbusier’s studio after ten years, the depression had taken its toll on all of Europe as it teetered on the brink of war, and the designer increasingly distanced herself from her glass and metal designs of the late 1920s. Instead, Perriand designs took on more democratic sensibilities. Active in the leftist, radical political sect, Perriand was charged with the mission to design inexpensive furniture for the people who needed it the most. She found inspiration on her frequent retreats to the mountains of Savoy, meeting with local craftsmen and immersing herself in nature. She designed her first free-form desk in 1938 for Jean-Richard Bloch. The wood was salvaged from the Temps Nouveaux Pavilion, its satiny finish and voluptuous form was meant “to make the room sing.”

Active in the leftist, radical political sect, Perriand was charged with the mission to design inexpensive furniture for the people who needed it the most.

In Japan, Perriand’s schedule was full with visits around the country. She spent her first several months in the countryside, visiting craftsmen in remote villages. Perriand immersed herself in the culture, experiencing Japan both physically and spiritually. In keeping with the path she was forging back in France, Perriand was especially interested in the rich craft-art tradition of Japanese artisans who utilized ancient techniques and natural materials. She studied woodworking and the intricacies of Japanese tea ceremonies, revealing a world of harmonious simplicity that she would translate in her designs.

Coinciding with her discoveries in Japan, her host country was becoming ever more engulfed in the war that was spreading across Asia and Europe. Perriand traveled to Hanoi in 1941 with the intention of returning to France by way of the United States. Her plans were abruptly shattered when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, a declaration of war. Unable to return to Japan, let alone France, Perriand remained in Vietnam for the next five years where she would meet and marry her husband Jacques Martin and give birth to their daughter, Pernette. She later recalled, “The pressures of war were growing, and suffering was in the air. I had to counter death with life. Paradoxically, I decided to do so at the worst possible moment.”

This humanist sentiment, both a reaction to the time, but also inherent in the designer, culminated in Perriand’s philosophy, l’art d’habiter, or the art of living—a doctrine that would provide foundation and inspiration for the rest of her life.

Throughout two decades of turmoil, Perriand’s aesthetic had undergone a dramatic evolution. The horrors of war and economic instability only heightened her desire to create affordable and beautiful furniture, and she continued to cultivate joyful and harmonious spaces. Returning to Europe after the war, Perriand believed more than ever in celebrating the simple joys of everyday life, the inherent beauty of nature and engaging peacefully with her surroundings. This humanist sentiment, both a reaction to the time, but also inherent in the designer, culminated in Perriand’s philosophy, l’art d’habiter, or the art of living—a doctrine that would provide foundation and inspiration for the rest of her life.