Charlotte Perriand studied interior design at the École de l’Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris from 1921-25. The following year, she presented a lounge corner called Coin deSalon at Salon des artistes décorateurs de Paris, which included a table with a glass and steel top. Her real breakthrough was in 1927, when she at the Autumnal Paris Salon presented Le Bar sous le toit (eng. The bar under the roof), including pedestal tables, low stools, and bar stools with cross- or circular legs and a bench, in chromed steel, anodized aluminum and glass that she had designed for her own workshop in Place Saint-Sulpice.
During the same year, Perriand had applied for a job at the studio of Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret. Le Corbusier first rejected her, because she was female, but after he saw her Le Bar sous le toit, he changed his mind, apologized, and offered her a job. At the studio, Perriand translated Le Cobusier's ideas of modern furnishings into innovative seating, including the B306 chaise lounge à position variable and the armchair B 301 / Fauteuil à dossier from 1928.
At the Autumn Salon in 1929, Perriand, Le Corbusier, and Jeanneret exhibited their Interior Equipment apartment installation, which consisted of a line of tubular steel furniture, that played a major part in making modernistic design more widely known. During the same year, Perriand was one of the founding members of the Union d’artistes modernes (UAM). In 1931 and -34, Perriand traveled to Russia, and during the early 1930s, she did photographic studies of Art brut, and in 1936 her photo collage of La Grande Misère de Paris was shown at the third Exposition de l’habitation in Paris. In 1935, she participated at the World’s Fair in Brussels with the ensemble La Maison du jeune homme.
Two years later, Perriand left Le Corbusier and Jeanneret to work with the artist Fernand Léger. In 1937, she worked together with Pierre Jeanneret and Jean Prouvé, designing wooden furniture. From 1940, Perriand became an industrial design advisor to the Japanese Ministry of Commerce, which led to her living in Japan until 1942, when she made the exhibition Sélection, tradition, création at the Takashimaya department store in Tokyo (1941).
Perriand traveled back to France via French Indochina, where she was stranded in Vietnam for four years due to a naval blockade. Perriand used the time to study local craft skills, which influenced her design. 1946, Perriand was back in Paris, where she did occasional collaborations with Le Corbusier, including the Unité habitation in Marseille and the Maison du Brésil in Paris. In 1949, Perriand was a founding member of the association Formes utiles, and four years later, she once again moved to Japan, where she had her second exhibition at the Takashimaya department store Propostion d’une synthèse des arts.
Back in Paris in 1956, Perriand began a collaboration with the Galerie Steph Simon, which lasted until 1974. From 1967 until -88, she worked on the design of the Savoyard winter sports resorts in Les Arcs. Perriand was appointed Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 1983. Ten years later, she designed and built a teahouse for UNESCO in Paris, which became her last major project.
Charlotte Perriand passed away in 1999 at the age of 96.
