Charlotte Perriand was 24 when she first entered Le Corbusier’s studio to ask for a job. “We do not embroider pillows here.”shouted the architect. The year was 1927, and although Perriand quickly became his right-hand man and one of the most innovative furniture designers of the 20th century, he was always overshadowed by the towering figure of ‘Corbu’, who also befell him. Eileen Gray.
A similar thing happened to the architect and engineer. Galina Balashova, The designer of all the interiors of Soviet ships and space stations in the 1960s, who was never known for his ideas and whose contract stated that he was a security guard. Or ten ‘design girls’Pratt Institute students whom General Motors hired to design the interiors of its cars in the early 1950s and used as advertising vehicles. ANYONE Gertrud ArndtAt the Bauhaus, he designed the famous carpet No. 2 in the office of schoolmaster Walter Gropius, because the textile department needed to be ‘feminine’. Actually, his dream was to become an architect.
The design tradition is full of stories like the previous ones, the lives of women who were torpedoed and forgotten by history, which we are now beginning to discover. This is the subject of the exhibition ‘HERE A FEW! Gifts in design.1900- Avui’, An example produced by Vitra Design Museum and expanded by Disseny Hub Barcelona, offering a golden opportunity to explore until next January 7 Pioneers of design in the 20th century.
A look at the museum, which brings together 80 design figures, from a gender perspective Jeanne Toussaint (Creative director of Cartier for over 50 years) Annika Rimala (Marimekko designer) or architect Lina Bo Bardi Along with a remarkable selection of 50 Catalan creators, some Nina Masó or Nani Marquinaothers like less Núria Pié Barrufet, Mireia Riera Simon, Mont Marsà or Anna Calvera.
Where are the women?
The Vitra section of the exhibition, curated by Vivianne Stappmanns, Nina Steinmüller and Susanne Graner, began to take shape three years ago when the museum was organizing its ‘Furniture design atlas’ and asked why most of the pieces in its collection belonged to designers. . What if there were female designers hidden in the history books but not yet discovered? Where were the women? It didn’t take long for the answer to emerge, and the result reveals interesting stories that even invite us to reflect on what we understand from a designer.
DIY queen
This situation Louise BrighamIn 1909 he wrote ‘Box Furniture’, a guide to making furniture from wooden fruit boxes. Considered one of the first ‘do-it-yourself’ furniture guides, it became a bestseller, especially among immigrants who came to the United States in poverty, and Brigham eventually opened a school; queen of the house DIY. We deserve special mention for those creators who shared life and work with partners who were systematically denied any hint of their authorship for decades. Aino Marsio, wife of Alvar Aaltoor Charles’ partner Ray Eames.
From suffragettes to 80s feminists
The same question was asked at DHUB, which has been conducting a feminist archeology study for the last two years. The genealogy of women’s design She focused on the 60s, 70s and 80s, when the “desire for change” and the women’s rights movement began to gain strength in the midst of the dictatorship. “What we offer is not a whole; “We will continue to investigate,” explain Catalan commissioners Teresa Bastardes, Isabel Cendoya and Isabel Fernández del Moral, who met with a handful of people by filming the subject and conducting interviews. The designers dropped off the museum’s radar. More than 60% of the pieces on display are new, almost entirely donations from individuals.
between Suffragettes making their own banners Although feminists who designed the Generalitat’s first campaigns against unwanted pregnancies in the 1980s sought votes in 1907, the history of the design is full of women using it for this purpose. help themselves: What would our lives be like without bras, clitoral suction cups or menstrual cups for mastectomized breasts? They are also in the exhibition.