For Milan Design Week’s Salone del Mobile, the fashion house Saint Laurent worked with the estate of famed French Modernist architect and furniture designer Charlotte Perriand (1903 - 1999) to create four Perriand furniture designs that were never realized. The pairing is not as random as it sounds, considering that Yves Saint Laurent was an enthusiastic collector of Perriand's work.
Perhaps the most beautiful of the four pieces, the monumental
Banquette de la Résidence de l’Ambassadeur du Japon à Paris was commissioned by architect Junzô Takakura in 1967 for Japan’s ambassador in Paris. What makes this piece startlingly elegant is the way the frame curves up at each end to create side tables. The sofa is now remanufactured in limited numbers, crafted from rosewood, cane, and Jim Thompson Thai silk.
The sinuous, wavey bent-metal frame of the
Fauteuil Visiteur Indochine (or "chair for the Visitor in Indochina") from 1947 was inspired by her time in exile in Vietnam during WWII.
Designed for Perriand’s husband during his time in Brazil, the Rio de Janeiro Bookshelf, with its rhythmic arrangement of open and closed storage, is crafted from solid rosewood with sliding doors of woven cane. The original resides in a private collection and has been exhibited publicly only three times in the past quarter-century.
And finally, the
Table Mille-Feuilles from 1963 consists of ten superimposed layers of contrasting woods — rosewood and cherrywood — forming concentric circles on its beveled, recessed top.
Salone del Mobile in Milan runs April 8-13 where the pieces will be exhibited at Padiglione Visconti and will be accompanied by a book of Perriand’s photographs as well as a collection catalogue, available at a kiosk in Piazza San Babila.
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