Charlotte Perriand

Maison du Mexique, Cité Internationale Universitaire, Paris

(...)

Maître Sylvie Teitgen, Hôtel des ventes Anticthermal, Nancy, 13 February 2000, lot 56

Private colleciton, Paris

Mary McLeod, Charlotte Perriand: An Art of Living, New York, 2003, p. 230-31

Jacques Barsac, Charlotte Perriand: Un art d'habiter, Paris, 2005, p. 377-379

Jacques Barsac, Complete works volume 2, 1940-1955, Paris, 2015, p. 367, 389-91 and 393-95 

Le Nouveau Monde de Charlotte Perriand, exhibition catalogue, 2 October - 24 February 2020, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, p. 268-269

Designed in 1953 for the Maison du Mexique at the Cité Internationale Universitaire in Paris, the Mexique bookcase is one of the most iconic examples of Charlotte Perriand's work and constructive thinking. Created at a time when the designer was also furnishing the Maison de la Tunisie, this creation extends her thinking on mass production and the use of resistant materials capable of withstanding the test of time and intensive use.

The freestanding bookcase is made up of metal blocks of various sizes, closed by sliding doors made of embossed sheet steel. Designed for open-plan student rooms with no separation between the bedroom and bathroom, it was intended to provide storage and structure the space. Thanks to its design, which is accessible from both sides, books and supplies could be placed on one side and toiletries on the other. 

Keen to create visual lightness, Perriand imagined a structure that would “allow the eye to glide,” punctuated by openings and an open space under the ceiling to amplify the feeling of space in rooms with limited volume. Resting on two concrete blocks covered with ceramic tiles (now replaced by wooden legs), the bookcase seemed to float in space.

Several color combinations were available. These variations, both functional and expressive, reflect the desire to combine architectural rigor with chromatic freedom, the hallmark of Charlotte Perriand's humanist modernism.