The formation of “form” and the “decoration” of space in Charlotte Perriand, part 1: Theory and practice of “en Forme (in shape)”

AbstractThis paper aims to clarify the formation process of the concept of “form” from the 1920s to the 1930s by chronologically tracing the creation of Perriand's furniture. That is, by analyzing the key terms “equipment,” “art brut” and “en forme (in shape),” this paper examines how the generation and transformation of steel pipe furniture as “form,” which was considered “new decoration.” When Perriand pursued the possibilities of “form,” the dualisms of industrial and natural materials were not at issue. When she sought in form to induce and “control” a gesture, the geometrical form limited and inhibited it. “En forme” was to liberate the threshold of gesture that form defines. Being “controlled” by the matter, rather than “controlled” by humans, could give rise to unexpected uses. It was the practice of her “new decoration,” a development of Le Corbusier's concept of “equipment” as the kind of interior “decoration” to regulate the typological gestures of humans.