Charlotte Perriand was something of an idealist in the world of design. Born to a tailor and a seamstress, she had design in her DNA and enrolled in Paris’ Central Union of Decorative Arts school as one of the first women to study furniture design in the 1920s. Her goal was to design pieces that married form and function, with the idea that better design led to a better society. By 1927, a then 24-year-old Perriand had landed on the precipice of a dream role: to work under renowned architect Le Corbusier.
But their first meeting did not go as planned, with Le Corbusier rejecting Perriand for a role with his firm, reportedly telling her: "We don't embroider cushions here." Just weeks later though, Perriand’s work — a piece of tubular steel furniture — would take Le Corbusier's breath away, and he immediately invited her to join his studio.
