Eileen Gray
1878 – 1976
Eileen Gray was an Irish artist, furniture designer, and architect, recognized today as one of the major pioneers of the Modern Movement and Art Deco. Initially trained in painting in London, she settled permanently in Paris, where she perfected the traditional art of Japanese lacquer before revolutionizing furniture design with tubular steel creations and clean lines. Her architectural masterpiece, the E-1027 villa built in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, embodies her unique vision of a humanist and functional modernism, free from the rigid dogmas of her contemporaries.
Biography
Trained in London, she settled in Paris in 1902 and mastered Japanese lacquer alongside Seizo Sugawara. Her refined screens and furniture captivated the avant-garde, leading her to open her own Parisian gallery, Jean Désert, in 1922.
Around 1925, influenced by functionalism, she abandoned luxury materials to experiment with industrial elements like glass, cork, and tubular steel. She then created global design icons, such as the “Bibendum” chair and the adjustable “E-1027” table.
Between 1926 and 1929, she designed her first architectural work, the E-1027 villa in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. This modern manifesto, infused with a unique sensibility, fascinated Le Corbusier, who later painted controversial murals there.
Withdrawing from the public eye after World War II, her work was long overlooked. Fortunately, she was rediscovered in the late 1960s by design historians before passing away in Paris in 1976 at the age of 98.
"A house is not a machine to live in. It is the shell of man, his extension, his release, his spiritual emanation."
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