Cité's
iconic designers

Born in 1903 in Paris to a family of artisans, Charlotte Perriand blended styles and materials to become an icon of modern, functional design. She studied at the École de l’Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris between 1920 and 1925. Her rise to fame was almost immediate when, at the age of 24, she presented her Bar under the Roof at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. This caught the attention of Le Corbusier, leading to a series of influential collaborations—most notably the furniture design for the Fondation Suisse at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris.

In the 1940s, Perriand’s career took a new direction under the influence of Japanese aesthetics, after she was invited to Japan as an industrial art advisor. She began incorporating materials such as straw, wood, and bamboo into her work. Through her artistic collaborations, industrial modernity, and commitment to functionality, she played a key role in the evolution of contemporary furniture, leaving a lasting legacy before her death in 1999.

Born in 1901 to a painter-sculptor father and a musician mother, Jean Prouvé initially pursued engineering studies, which were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. He then turned to metalwork and, after completing a few decorative ironwork commissions, discovered welding and stainless steel. This led him toward a career as an architect and designer. Determined to modernize the Art Deco movement, he embraced a minimalist style in which the structural joints and assembly systems of his creations remained visible. For him, “there is no difference between constructing a house and making a piece of furniture.”

Metal was at the heart of his work, appearing in a variety of forms. His major contributions include the Maison du Peuple in Clichy, the theater chairs of the Maison du Brésil at the Cité Internationale, and the façade of the Grand Palais at the Lille Trade Fair.

Eager to bring his creations into the realm of industrial production, Prouvé opened a large workshop in Maxéville in 1947. Faced with a postwar steel shortage, he gradually shifted to aluminum, which was lighter and more affordable. His factory operated at full capacity until 1953, when he left to finish his career in Paris following financial disagreements with his investors.

Eugène Printz was a renowned French cabinetmaker and decorator, emblematic of the Art Deco movement. Born in 1889 in Paris to a cabinetmaker father, he was trained in the creation of classical Louis XVI-style furniture in his father’s workshop.

In the 1920s, encouraged by modernist architect Pierre Chareau, he began designing modern furniture. Retaining his use of metal from earlier work, he combined it with fine woods to create a new aesthetic—both elegant and functional.

His collaboration with Chareau gained public attention at the 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative Arts. From there, he attracted a bourgeois clientele and received commissions from major French institutions. He also worked for international clients, particularly in the United States, where Art Deco furniture was highly sought after. Among his notable works were the desk of Marshal Lyautey, Jeanne Lanvin’s office, the Rosa Abreu de Grancher Foundation and library, and furnishings for Paris City Hall.

Despite the economic crisis of the 1930s, triggered by the U.S. stock market crash, his workshop survived. His pieces remain celebrated today for their exceptional blend of functionality and decorative artistry. He passed away in 1948.

Known as a renowned architect of the 20th century with a legacy still influential today, Le Corbusier also designed numerous pieces of furniture, particularly to complement his architectural creations. Born in Switzerland in 1887, he trained as an engraver and chiseler at an art school before entering the watchmaking industry, as his family had done before him. However, with limited vision in one eye, this disability led him to abandon that career and pursue architecture.

He moved to Paris in 1917, where he studied reinforced concrete architecture and established his own agency. Obsessed with the idea of a return to moral order, he met painter Amédée Ozenfant, with whom he shared this ideology, advocating for modern art free from any extravagance. This notion of a “return to moral order” was linked to a rejection of artistic forms considered too decorative and exuberant from the past, particularly from the Art Nouveau style. After the horrors of World War I, Le Corbusier and Ozenfant sought to establish a new form of beauty based on simplicity, rationality, and efficiency.

The interwar period, when many buildings had to be rebuilt after the destruction of the war, was a boon for Le Corbusier, who designed numerous villas and buildings reflecting his functional and minimalist architectural vision.

The furniture he designed reflects this “purist” spirit, with his tubular steel-framed chairs quickly becoming iconic pieces, embodying the aesthetics of modern architecture, where form follows function and each element is justified by its utility.

Born in 1879 in Paris, Ruhlmann took over his father’s decoration company in 1907. He was a self-taught interior designer and participated in the 1910 Salon d’Automne, where his name became associated with refined and elegant furniture. Orders flooded in, and he expanded his business to wallpaper and mirror work. He also created the wallpaper and furniture for the rooms of the Maison des Provinces de France at the Cité internationale, in collaboration with other decorators of the time.

For the 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs, Ruhlmann took on the artistic direction of the luxurious Hôtel du Collectionneur in Paris, a symbol of Art Deco architecture, with some elements even transported from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Ruhlmann crafted his works using luxurious materials such as ivory, precious woods, and tortoiseshell. He was not limited to furniture creation, as the projects he led encompassed all forms of decorative arts (textiles, lighting, ceramics…).

Taming light — this is the feat attributed to the lighting designer Jean Perzel, a remarkable accomplishment that has lasted for a century. Born in Bruck, Bavaria, Perzel was naturalized French in 1919 after his service in the Légion d’Honneur during the war. He then worked as a stained glass artist in Paris.

The Art Deco movement, which emerged in the 1910s and reached its peak a decade later, revolutionized the world of architecture and interior design with its clean forms, soft, geometric curves. It was within this movement that Perzel founded his lighting workshop in 1923, at the age of 31.

The fame of his workshop coincided with the creation of the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris in 1929, and Perzel designed a bedside lamp for the occasion, featuring a rotating shade that allowed students to adjust the light in their rooms.

Soon after launching his brand, Perzel’s success was immediate. The Rothschild family purchased his entire first collection in 1923. His creations also gained immense popularity in the United States, where they were considered emblematic works of the 20th century. Perzel became highly sought after for custom lighting orders, which perfectly complemented the elegance and décor of numerous interiors. Today, his creations adorn the court of the King of Belgium, the headquarters of the League of Nations in Geneva, and the Canadian Embassy in The Hague.