Based in Munich, ClassiCon is a furniture company dedicated to championing innovative designs from both the past and present. Eileen Gray is one of the designers amongst their impressive portfolio — a maven of Modernism whos furniture and architecture helped inform the aesthetics and functionality associated with the movement. Recently, I was invited to ClassiCon’s headquarters where I got to explore Eileen Gray’s universe and experience the works of the woman who was so clearly a head of her time.
I first encountered Eileen Gray a decade ago in my ‘History of Modern Design & Architecture’ lecture during university. Since that time, she has remained one of my favorite pioneers of Modernism. Of course the alluringly avant-garde yet timelessness of her work is what captivated my eye, but my true admiration for Eileen was earned by her persistence to exist in the male-dominated world of Modernism. While many are familiar with her designs, most remain unaware of her name and story.
Eileen Gray’s work played a fundamental role in shaping the future of modern design, but unlike many of her male contemporaries, she was widely undercelebrated because of patriarchal barriers. In her time, Eileen was never given a seat at the table amongst the famed Modernist Masters such as Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius or Mies Van Der Rohe, but she did work her way into the room and left an impression… leaving the door open a crack for other women to follow.
For much of her life, Eileen extended herself beyond the molds of society. She was amongst the first women to attend London’s Slade School of Fine Art in 1898 where she studied painting and began exploring lacquer work — a craft she later went on to master in Paris at the turn of the century. She dated men… and women, defying the societal restraints of the time while marching to the beat of her own drum (one that I like to imagine would have been beautifully lacquered and banded in gleaming chrome).
Throughout the early 1900s, Gray found success in Paris’s decorative arts scene. She eventually opened her own shop, Galerie Jean Désert, where she sold her lacquer furniture and interior goods and design services to a range of high-brow clientele. In those times, a woman-owned storefront was highly unusual so Eileen ambiguously branded her work under the male pseudonym, Jean Désert.
In the 1920s and without any formal training, Gray began shifting her focus to architecture and went on to design her first and most famous building, the E.1027 House. Nestled into the rocky coastline of southern France, the villa incapsulated Eileen’s ingenuity for modern living and was warmed by her sensuous understanding of material and form. Many years later, much of the custom furnishings designed for the E.1027 House (some can be spotted below) would go into production — selling around the world while acting as iconic symbols of the influence Eileen had on design and Modernism as a whole.
Unfortunately the work of Eileen Gray didn’t receive the international attention it deserved until the later half of the 1900s. Her designs were eventually rediscovered in 1968 when her contributions to Modernism were spotlighted in Domus Magazine. A few years later, Gray began working with Zeev Aram who helped bring her pieces into production. In 1973, three years before her death, she gave Zeev’s company, Aram Designs Ltd., the worldwide rights to most of her furniture, rugs and lamps. In the 1990s, Aram Designs Ltd. granted ClassiCon the exclusive license to manufacture and distribute Eileen Gray’s work. Each piece is skillfully and traditionally crafted, mainly by regional European manufactories, honoring the sincere artistry and ingenuity Eileen applied to everything she created.
You can see more of Eileen Gray’s iconic works on ClassicCon’s website.
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This blogpost was written in collaboration with ClassiCon
Follow ClassiCon on Instagram and explore their full collection online
E 1027 Adjustable Table (1926)
Non Conformist Armchair (1926)
Bibendum Armchair (1926) & Occasional Table (1927)
Roattino Floor Lamp (1931)
Roquebrune Chair (1927)
Lacquered Brick Screen (1922-1925)
