‘Le Corbusier waited impatiently for me to bring the furniture to life,’ wrote Charlotte Perriand in 1991. In this statement, printed in the French designer’s autobiography, she sums up the story behind one of the 20th century’s greatest seating creations. For decades, it was attributed solely to Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, the master of modernist architecture known to the world as Le Corbusier. Credits were later added to recognise the work of his cousin and long-time collaborator, Pierre Jeanneret, as well as Perriand. But, in reality, the ingenuity behind this clever reclining chaise appears to have been hers alone.
When Perriand first applied to work for Le Corbusier, she was met with the now infamous reply, ‘We don’t embroider cushions here.’ It was only after seeing the cocktail bar that she exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in 1927, a recreation of a room in her own apartment, that he apologised and offered her a position in his office. Filled with polished metal and glass, the bar embodied his vision of ‘a machine for living in’ far better than the bent-wood furniture in his exhibitions up until that point.
Le Corbusier’s involvement in the ‘Chaise Longue Basculante B306’, as it was originally named, appears to have begun and ended with a sketch – but not a sketch of furniture. In 1927, he produced a drawing of figures in different seating positions, including one of a person lying down with their feet in the air, ‘as if against thetrunk of a tree’, according to Perriand. She took it from there, developing an idea for a chaise set in a steel cradle, so it couldglide into different positions like a rocking chair. It features asmooth, zigzagging seat that follows the form of the human body, which, together with the tubular headrest and curved frame, makes it one of the most recognisable profiles in the history of furniture.
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A famous photo of this ‘relaxing machine’ (lead image) shows Perriand lying down on it, her head turned to face the wall. This was taken at the Salon d’Automne in 1929, where the chaise made its debut. Its prominence was cemented in 1965 when Italian furniture company Cassina started producing the design and retailing it worldwide.
In a 1984 interview, Perriand said she couldn’t care less that the design was more often attributed to Le Corbusier than to her. But in 2022, Cassina acknowledged the mistake by dropping the name ‘LC4’, which had contributed to the confusion over authorship. Now, this design stands not only as a symbol of the inventiveness of the modernist movement, but also as a triumph for women deserving of greater recognition. From £4,980, cassina.com
