"Living with Charlotte Perriand"
The friendship between Chariots on Fire and François Laffanour of Galerie Downtown/Paris comes from a shared way of thinking about the intersecting facets of ‘design’ and ‘living’—or, as Laffanour phrases it, “that need for beauty in everyone’s life.”
In Living with Charlotte Perriand, François Laffanour illuminates the enduring aesthetic resonance of Perriand’s work: beautiful, practical objects which are both “poetic and human.”
Laffanour’s fascination for the work of Charlotte Perriand dates from his earliest iteration as a dealer at the Saint-Ouen’s Flea Market in Paris onward to his present gallery on Rue de Seine. This book arises in celebration of the forty-year span across which Laffanour has connected his collectors—and the design world more largely—to an appreciation of the designer’s work as art itself.
What we recognize as Perriand’s singular design-sensibility is shown in the direct historical context of her pre- and post-war travels; as Perriand herself recounts: “In Japan, I discovered emptiness, the power of emptiness . . . Emptiness contains everything.” Hence, we can trace through Perriand’s designs a profound cultural synthesis, clearly informed by legacies of traditional Japanese craft and made, by Perriand’s vision, resolutely modern.
“Charlotte Perriand was mainly concerned with the utilitarian role of an object, and since she has a natural sense of harmony, her works are still imbued with beauty,” writes Marcel Zahar. Indeed, this visually-rich book is a testament to the timelessness of Perriand’s work—as translated across the eclectic living spaces of her collectors. Her sensibility proves itself as iconic through the very versatility of its expression. To Chariots on Fire, this is the definition of beautiful design.
The friendship between Chariots on Fire and François Laffanour of Galerie Downtown/Paris comes from a shared way of thinking about the intersecting facets of ‘design’ and ‘living’—or, as Laffanour phrases it, “that need for beauty in everyone’s life.”
In Living with Charlotte Perriand, François Laffanour illuminates the enduring aesthetic resonance of Perriand’s work: beautiful, practical objects which are both “poetic and human.”
Laffanour’s fascination for the work of Charlotte Perriand dates from his earliest iteration as a dealer at the Saint-Ouen’s Flea Market in Paris onward to his present gallery on Rue de Seine. This book arises in celebration of the forty-year span across which Laffanour has connected his collectors—and the design world more largely—to an appreciation of the designer’s work as art itself.
What we recognize as Perriand’s singular design-sensibility is shown in the direct historical context of her pre- and post-war travels; as Perriand herself recounts: “In Japan, I discovered emptiness, the power of emptiness . . . Emptiness contains everything.” Hence, we can trace through Perriand’s designs a profound cultural synthesis, clearly informed by legacies of traditional Japanese craft and made, by Perriand’s vision, resolutely modern.
“Charlotte Perriand was mainly concerned with the utilitarian role of an object, and since she has a natural sense of harmony, her works are still imbued with beauty,” writes Marcel Zahar. Indeed, this visually-rich book is a testament to the timelessness of Perriand’s work—as translated across the eclectic living spaces of her collectors. Her sensibility proves itself as iconic through the very versatility of its expression. To Chariots on Fire, this is the definition of beautiful design.
The friendship between Chariots on Fire and François Laffanour of Galerie Downtown/Paris comes from a shared way of thinking about the intersecting facets of ‘design’ and ‘living’—or, as Laffanour phrases it, “that need for beauty in everyone’s life.”
In Living with Charlotte Perriand, François Laffanour illuminates the enduring aesthetic resonance of Perriand’s work: beautiful, practical objects which are both “poetic and human.”
Laffanour’s fascination for the work of Charlotte Perriand dates from his earliest iteration as a dealer at the Saint-Ouen’s Flea Market in Paris onward to his present gallery on Rue de Seine. This book arises in celebration of the forty-year span across which Laffanour has connected his collectors—and the design world more largely—to an appreciation of the designer’s work as art itself.
What we recognize as Perriand’s singular design-sensibility is shown in the direct historical context of her pre- and post-war travels; as Perriand herself recounts: “In Japan, I discovered emptiness, the power of emptiness . . . Emptiness contains everything.” Hence, we can trace through Perriand’s designs a profound cultural synthesis, clearly informed by legacies of traditional Japanese craft and made, by Perriand’s vision, resolutely modern.
“Charlotte Perriand was mainly concerned with the utilitarian role of an object, and since she has a natural sense of harmony, her works are still imbued with beauty,” writes Marcel Zahar. Indeed, this visually-rich book is a testament to the timelessness of Perriand’s work—as translated across the eclectic living spaces of her collectors. Her sensibility proves itself as iconic through the very versatility of its expression. To Chariots on Fire, this is the definition of beautiful design.