Leather LC3 Grand Confort Sofa by Le Corbusier & C. Perriand for Cassina (1/2)

The trio of Charlotte Perriand, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret is known for its widely acclaimed and influential modernist furniture designs.

In the early 1920s, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, the revered Swiss-French architect known professionally as Le Corbusier, entered into collaboration with his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, who shared his grand vision for egalitarian building projects and interior design. They later recruited the pioneering young female architect Charlotte Perriand to join their venture.

Perriand's installation Bar sous le toit (“bar under the roof”), a recreation of part of her own apartment shown at the 1927 Salon d’Automne in Paris, caught Le Corbusier's attention and prompted the cousins to recruit her to work at their architecture practice. She would be tasked with designing interiors and furniture. Such status was rare for a woman at the time — in fact, when Perriand sought work at Le Corbusier’s atelier mere months before the exhibition, he famously dismissed her with a sexist remark.

The collective called their shared project l’équipement d'intérieur de l’habitation (“the interior equipment of the house”), and they designed furniture that remains celebrated today. The LC series of armchairs, lounge chairs and sofas, for example, saw the designers working with tubular chrome steel and plush foam cushions upholstered in leather. Bereft of ornament and prized for its functionality, the series is currently manufactured by Cassina. The cohort's LC4 chaise lounge was displayed at the 1929 Salon d’Automne, and the spare but sculptural seat — as well as the group’s other furnishings — influenced the likes of Willy Rizzo as well as a range of other modernist designers and furniture innovators.

Reportedly owing to political differences, the trio’s collaboration ended in 1937. Le Corbusier and Pierre continued working together, primarily in architecture.

In the early 1950s, at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Le Corbusier and his cousin collaborated on a building project in Chandigarh, India. While the Chandigarh project is most frequently associated with Le Corbusier, he didn’t actually move to India and instead monitored progress during visits to the region. Pierre, however, was extensively involved. As the project’s first chief architect, Pierre remained onsite to oversee implementation of design and to coordinate construction of schools, government housing, shopping centers and more.

In 1940, Charlotte Perriand moved to Japan after France fell to Nazi forces. She was offered a position at the Japanese Ministry of Trade and Industry as a consultant on the country’s industrial arts. While there, Perriand adopted many Japanese artistic principles and incorporated them into her own revolutionary furniture designs. She would also closely collaborate with self-taught French furniture designer Jean Prouvé in the years that followed.

Time has shown that some of the works attributed to the Jeanneret cousins are either Perriand’s own designs or she was an uncredited contributor.

On 1stDibs, find an array of vintage Charlotte Perriand, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret furniture, including tables, storage cabinets and lighting.

If his famed cousin and longtime colleague Charles-Édouard Jeanneret — better known as Le Corbusier — was the visionary, then Pierre Jeanneret was the member of the architecture and design team who got things done. In recent years, Jeanneret has emerged from Le Corbusier’s shadow, as collectors have discovered his simple and striking chairs, benches, coffee tables and other furniture creations.

Jeanneret studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva and after he graduated in 1921 he became a partner in Le Corbusier’s office in Paris. The pair collaborated on numerous residential projects, most notably the Villa Savoye, the iconic modernist house in suburban Paris completed in 1931.

Jeanneret also worked with the great Charlotte Perriand on the Grand Modele line of tubular metal furnishings that was a sensation at the annual Salon d’Automne design expo in 1929. A rift developed between Jeanneret and his cousin during World War II, as the former joined the French resistance, while Le Corbusier cooperated with the occupying authorities in Vichy. The two did not work together again until 1950, when Le Corbusier persuaded Jeanneret to help execute the master plan for the new city of Chandigarh in Punjab, India. Jeanneret lived and worked there until the final years of his life.

A hallmark of Jeanneret’s furniture designs is his great sensitivity to materials. In contrast to the tubular-steel chairs produced by Marcel Breuer and other members of the Bauhaus, the chromed metal pieces designed by Jeanneret and Perriand — including such as the now-classic LC4 chaise longue and the Grand Confort lounge chair — have a sensuous, relaxed and welcoming look. Conversely, while Jeanneret uses essentially geometric forms for his wooden seating pieces, they exude warmth by nature of the material.

One of Jeanneret’s first manufactured designs in wood is the Model 92 Scissors chair, licensed by Hans and Florence Knoll when they were touring postwar France. But Jeanneret’s finest work in furniture was done in Chandigarh, and these are the pieces that have earned him recent renown.

Crafted of teak, the Chandigarh designs range from low-slung lounge chairs and armchairs with cane seats to desks and tables, most with Jeanneret’s signature drafting compass-shaped legs. Many such pieces on the market today are refurbished, having been found by dealers languishing in scrapyards in India in the late 1990s. Chandigarh is now taking better care of its modernist heritage, making available Jeanneret works all the rarer.

Find authentic vintage Pierre Jeanneret chairs, case pieces, tables and other furniture today on 1stDibs.