Eileen Gray (1878-1976) produced some iconic pieces of early modernist design in a profession and an era hardly designed for women. Raised in Ireland, she trained in London and Paris and worked most of her life in France. She was a close friend of Corbusier’s and it seems clear that the design influences ran both ways, yet her Tubelight and her E-1027 table are still much more well-known than she is. Fortunately her name is slowly becoming better recognized outside design circles. These two pieces, both created in 1927, stand up well nearly a hundred years later and both are still in constant production. The table was designed for her sister, who liked to eat breakfast in bed and couldn’t find an appropriate surface. But it is named for the E-1027, the house Gray designed and built for her lover, the critic Jean Badovici, and that is where it was first shown. Her tubelight is equally compelling. Upcoming posts will include photos of these pieces as they were originally shown.

Tags: E-1027 table, Eileen Gray, female designer, modernism, modernist design, Tubelight, woman designer, women designers

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