Concept of the “Selection, Tradition, Creation” Exhibition (1941) by Charlotte Perriand

Abstract

This paper aims to clarify the concept of the “Selection, Tradition, Creation” Exhibition (1941) by the French furniture decorator and architect Charlotte Perriand (1903–1999), to analyze her interpretation of Japanese “folklore” during her one-year stay in Japan to teach export crafts. Perriand's works (mainly tables, chairs and carpets) exhibited were directly influenced by Japanese folk crafts. However, almost all of them were variations on the prototypes of forms Perriand had developed in France. In other words, Perriand made a shift in materials and techniques (bamboo, straw materials and weaving techniques), a reduction in the size of furniture (a reference to traditional Japanese lifestyle) and a transfer of patterns (Japanese symbolic signs) in order to interpretate the Japanese “folklore” discovered by the modern Japanese through their own forms. It was both a way of understanding Japan and a reflection on her own design methods.