531 Mexique Stool

Cassina presents for the first time new re-editions by Charlotte Perriand in wood, typical of the company’s high quality carpentry workmanship and testimony to the pioneering architect’s inspiring travels through the Orient

Indochine: noble materials for Charlotte Perriand’s personal use

The Indochine small swivel armchair is an adaptation in wood of the LC7 metal framed armchair which Charlotte Perriand designed in 1927, before she met Le Corbusier, and that was successively included in the range of furniture by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand presented at the Salon d’Automne in 1929.

The small armchair, designed in Vietnam in 1943 for personal use, was created with craftsmanship techniques and materials that were available during the war. The first project had three legs but did not offer the right stability: following this observation Perriand adapted it with a four-legged version. Charlotte Perriand always adapted models using the materials and techniques that were available to her, just like the project programme and the place of production.

Mexique: functionality, organisation and the warmth of natural materials

The Mexique table was created in 1952 for the students’ rooms of the Maison du Mexique at the Cité Universitaire Internationale in Paris. Its triangular shape with rounded corners was conceived in order to occupy as little space as possible in the room to facilitate movement between the armchair, bed and desk. This kind of table with tapered wooden legs and triangular table top was part of the en forme libre tables developed by Charlotte Perriand in 1938-1939. The triangular shape also allows more tables to be combined to form squares or rectangles, extending the area of use.

The thick solid wood top exudes natural beauty and warmth and the profile of the top’s border is functional for the shape and size of the hand: “What is sweeter than touching a polished fir table top, sweet like the legs of a woman”, Charlotte Perriand noted in the Triennale di Milano catalogue in 1951.

In 1952, Charlotte Perriand replaced the tapered legs with triangular sectioned legs in folded matt black sheet metal attached to the table top. Elegant and slender they were created to “give importance to the table top rather than its support” Charlotte wrote in 1950 in an article in the L’art d’Habiter.

In 1956, Charlotte Perriand created a low version of the Mexique table for the Galerie Steph Simon, the renowned Parisian gallery where Charlotte Perriand and Jean Prouvé were the main protagonists. As a result Perriand created a family of tables which harmoniously meet the organisational requirements for the night, day and communal environments.

The 17 products in the Charlotte Perriand Collection are all authenticated with the progressive production number, Charlotte Perriand’s signature and the Cassina I Maestri Collection logo.