"We don’t embroider cushions here," was Le Corbusier's reply to the 24-year old Charlotte Perriand when she first approached him about working at his influential architecture studio in the '20s. She was hired nonetheless after impressing him with her work, and over the next decade led the design of what became some of the most famous furniture of the 20th century. Later, her work turned expressly political, as she designed inexpensive furniture constructed from standard industrial components, and prefab shelters to provide affordable housing for laborers.
Pictured above is the Paris apartment of Perriand, designed by her in 1972 and strongly influenced by her travels in Japan right before WWII. The walls are lined with wooden shelves bearing books and travel mementos, including artisanal souvenirs, stones, shells, feathers, and anything else that caught her eye. Perriand designed screens to slide across the shelves to disguise or reveal in accordance with her mood.
Photographed by @francoishalard