Eileen Gray: Pioneer of the Modern Movement

Born: County Wexford, Ireland in 1878

Education: Slade School of Art

Residence: Paris, France

Design movement: Modern Movement

Other notable designers of the time: Kathleen Scott, Adrienne Gorska, Le Corbusier, and Jean Badovici

Eileen Gray was a French-based architect and designer and is known for being a pioneer of the Modern Movement in architecture.

She was born in Country Wexford, Ireland in 1878. Her father was a scottish landscape painter who encouraged her interest in painting and drawing. In 1898, she became one of the first women to be accepted into the Slade School of Art to study painting. It was there that she met restorer Dean Charles and began her apprenticeship in a London lacquer workshop. This experience sparked her career and resulted in the lacquered screens and decorative panels she designed to be some of the most sought after by followers of the art deco movement.

In the 1920’s, she opened her own gallery, Jean Désert, on rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré, a famous street in Paris known for being one of the most luxurious and fashionable streets in the world. Her early work used luxurious materials like exotic woods, ivory, and furs but shifted to a simpler more industrial look as her career progressed. She worked closely with Le Corbusier and J.J.P Oud, during which she became a leading expert on the revolutionary theories of design and construction at the time. In 1922, she was commissioned to design the interior of an apartment for Madame Mathieu-Lévy, a famous dressmaker at the time. The apartment her skill for laquered pieces as well as showcased steel tubing and glass furniture. The design of the apartment became one of her most famous works and is still regarded at as modern and stylish today.

Gray was also an extremely accomplished architect. She designed two houses in the Alpes Maritimes, an area of southeast France that borders the Mediterranean Sea. One of these houses, E-1027, is considered one of Gray’s first major works by blurring the line between architecture and decoration. Her designs began to showcase what she called “camping style,” featuring lightweight, functional, multi- purpose furniture. Sadly, during World War II, this house was inhabited by german soldiers who used the walls for target practice. Most her work was looted or destroyed by bombings.

Gray spent the rest of her life designing small furniture pieces. She was appointed a Royal Designer for Industry by The Royal Society of Arts in 1972. Some of her pieces, including the Bibendum chair, continue to be produced and the influence of her style is still apparent in furniture and interior design today.