On occasion, the women of 20th C design do get a certain amount of recognition. This rare aluminum pendant lamp by Eileen Gray, previously owned by Yves St Laurent, is up for auction at Christie’s and is estimated at US$1 million. Via dailyicon. We’ve written about Gray before, here and here.

Left to Right: George Nelson, Edward Wormley, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Charles Eames and Jens Risom

Photo from a 1961 Playboy article on 20th C “masters of design,” who are here dressed either as accountants or architects, it’s hard to tell which, but it’s a lot of zippers. Where were Ray Eames, Charlotte Perriand, Eileen Gray, Nanna Ditzel or any number of others? Was there even a moment of guilt or shame when this group was assembled? Via lushpad. Or click below for the whole article.

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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.

Ingenious furniture by Belgian designer Marina Bautier, who runs design studio lamaisondemarina. 

The “Bureau” desk has a magnetic steel top that can be raised to reveal a laptop surface plus bulletin board, and the nesting chair and stool are classic.

The “Fold” chair is solid oak, wool, foam and steel, and collapses thinly for storage. 

Via Apartment Therapy.