I’m very interested in the life of houses. Everything is created from within, if you will—needs, gestures, a harmony, a euphoric arrangement, if possible, in relation to an environment...After all we are a part of the universe...there are no barriers.
Charlotte Perriand
Since 2000, Mar Silver has been the principle designer at her eponymous Connecticut-based firm, creating interiors that are sophisticated and engaging. Silver works in a neutral, refined color palette, with a keen eye for texture and harmony of forms. Her interiors combine modern, contemporary and antique works with great ease and elegance. Highlights from the Mar Silver Collection include contemporary photography from Richard Prince, Vik Muniz and Antoine Schneck, eye-catching mid-century designs by Charlotte Perriand, Poul Kjaerholm and Florence Knoll, paintings by Grace Roselli and Jorge Luis Santos and African and Asian works.
A home should feel like a personal sanctuary that renews your energy and feeds your soul.
Mar Silver
Charlotte Perriand 1903–1999
At the age of twenty-four Charlotte Perriand approached Le Corbusier and asked to join the designer’s famed studio. While studying at Paris’s École de l’Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs, Perriand read two of Le Corbusier’s most notable works, Ver une architecture and L’Art decorative d’aujourd’hui prompting her to distance herself from the Art Deco aesthetic and seek out a style more relevant to the machine-age. Le Corbusier famously turned her away, stating "we don’t embroider cushions here." Months later, after seeing her Bar sous le toi the Salon D’Automne exhibition in Paris, he apologized and hired her on. Perriand worked for him for ten years, collaborating with Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret on numerous projects, most notably a set of tubular steel chairs that would become one of her most well-known designs. In the 1930s, concerned with social issues, Perriand worked to create functional and affordable designs. Moving away from the machine-age aesthetic of glass and metal, Perriand began experimenting with natural materials. She traveled to Japan as an official advisor on industrial design to the Ministry for Trade and Industry and became enamored with the simplistic beauty of Japanese design. Perriand studied local woodworking and immersed herself in the functional yet refined forms. Perriand revitalized her career upon returning to Europe in 1947, creating harmonious simplicity in her designs – what she called l’art d’habiter. She continued her collaboration with Le Corbusier on the Unité d’Habitation in Marseilles and worked with Fernand Leger and Jean Prouvé on various commissions. In 1985, her long career was celebrated with a retrospective at the Musée des Arts-Décoratifs in Paris and she remains one of the most influential designers of the 20th Century.
Auction Results Charlotte Perriand
Bloc bahut
estimate: $200,000–250,000
result: $240,000
Free-form dining table
estimate: $100,000–150,000
result: $197,000
Free Form table
estimate: $125,000–150,000
result: $180,000
Japan bahut
estimate: $150,000–200,000
result: $180,000
Nuage Bibliothèque
estimate: $70,000–90,000
result: $152,500
Nuage Bibliothèque
estimate: $100,000–150,000
result: $146,400
Bibliotheque from the Maison du Mexique
estimate: $60,000–80,000
result: $126,000
Rare bahut
estimate: $100,000–150,000
result: $122,500
Sandoz bench
estimate: $50,000–70,000
result: $120,000
Rare Bloc Bahut from Cité Cansado, Mauritania
estimate: $100,000–150,000
result: $112,500
Bibliothèque from the Maison du Mexique
estimate: $50,000–70,000
result: $110,500
Bibliothèque from the Maison du Mexique, Paris
estimate: $50,000–70,000
result: $100,900
Bibliotheque from the Maison du Mexique
estimate: $40,000–50,000
result: $96,000
Bloc cabinets, pair
estimate: $80,000–120,000
result: $92,500
Long table
estimate: $60,000–80,000
result: $90,000
Nuage Bibliothèque
estimate: $80,000–120,000
result: $87,500
Long dining table
estimate: $70,000–90,000
result: $80,500
Mauritania sideboard
estimate: $35,000–45,000
result: $78,000
Bibliotheque from the Maison du Mexique
estimate: $70,000–90,000
result: $72,000
Tokyo lounge chair
estimate: $30,000–40,000
result: $72,000
console from Hôtel le Doron, Méribel, France
estimate: $30,000–50,000
result: $68,500
stool no. 308
estimate: $30,000–35,000
result: $52,800
Rangement Bibliothèque
estimate: $50,000–70,000
result: $48,750
Bloc cabinet
estimate: $30,000–50,000
result: $46,250
