LC1

Design

The Le Corbusier armchair LC1, one of the undisputed design classics of the modern age, comes from a collection of avant-garde furniture developed by Le Corbusier in collaboration with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret and his colleague Charlotte Perriand. In addition to the armchair LC1 the collection also includes, amongst other objects, the chaise lounge LC4 and the LC2 sofa. Although Le Corbusier developed the first version of the LC1 in 1928 for his Villa Church project, the year of publication is generally given as 1929: principally because in this year the LC1 armchair was presented along with the other representatives of the collection at the Paris Salon d'Automne. What distinguished the chair from its contemporaries, and continues to define the Cassina armchair today, is its strict, minimalist, reduction to elementary geometric shapes and the rejection of all superfluous ornamentation. Despite the formal minimalist design the LC1 armchair guarantees maximum comfort. This is principally ensured by sophisticated details such as the movable backrest, or the stabilizing steel springs behind the seat and backrest. In addition, the unique quality of the materials employed and the sophisticated production by Cassina ensure that your personal LC1 will provide comfort and security a lifetime long.

The world-famous designer Le Corbusier

Designer

Although Le Corbusier was not solely responsible for the development of the LC1 armchair, he is often cited as the sole author. This is mainly because with his work the Swiss architect was unquestionably one of the most important protagonists in the development of modernity and thus played a central role in helping shape contemporary design. Originally born under the name of Charles Édouard Jeanneret-Gris in 1887, Le Corbusier was active in various fields - from painting across architecture and urban planning and onto furniture designs. Following completion of his architectural studies le Corbusier undertook numerous study trips throughout Europe, in the course of which he formulated his radical, purist mindset: ideas which would later have a decisive influence on contemporary architecture and which remain as controversial today as then. In addition to prominent buildings as the "Unité d'Habitation" in France and Berlin or the chapel in Ronchamps, Le Corbusier realised numerous works in the United States and India. In addition to the armchair LC1 the chaise longue LC4 belongs to the most famous Le Corbusier furniture designs.

The LC1 armchair is produced by Cassina

The Cassina LC 1 armchair

Production

As with all objects in the LC Collection the LC1 armchair is produced by the Italian manufacturer Cassina according to Le Corbusier's original specifications. The chair is produced with a base in steel, available as either a chrome or a black matt lacquered version. The seat and backrest are in turn realised from fur or leather. As a manufacturer Cassina has specialized for decades in the processing of high quality materials, such as wood and leather; and here the furniture manufacturer can rely on traditional craftsmanship, combined with technological innovation and computer technology. Thus all animal skins are checked first by hand and marked for deficiencies before being perfectly cut using scans and a special software. Every LC1 is in addition subjected to very strict controls - Cassina monitors the entire production process using bar codes, each piece being assigned its own unique, individual code.

The designers Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand

Historical Context

Clear lines, functional design - what is familiar to us today, meant in the 1920s a stark break with conventional ideas and stood for a radical change in understanding of aesthetics and domesticity. Le Corbusier made an important contribution to this development and with the LC1 armchair and the other objects in his LC1 Collection helped revolutionise ideas about furniture design. Le Corbusier and his colleagues deliberately designed the entire collection as an alternative to Art Deco: instead of organic lines and elaborate flourishes, the LC1 armchair and the other designs in the collection are characterised by Le Corbusier's ideas on purism, clarity, logic and functional reduction. Also with respect to the materials and manufacturing the designers were oriented on the possibilities of industrialization. This divide between nature and machine world can be seen in the contrast between the cool steel and the organic leather of the Cassina LC1 armchair.

Manufacturer

Cassina, manufacturer of the Le Corbusier LC1, can look back on a history just as long as that of the Le Corbusier armchair. Founded in 1927, so two years before Le Corbusier formally released his LC1 at the Paris Salon d'Automne, the Milanese company was initially known for its realisation of cruise ship interiors: a tradition continued today albeit in form of creating interiors for luxury hotels and boutiques rather than ocean going palaces. From the 1950s Cassina started to move ever more into the field of furniture design and combined traditional crafts with the new possibilities of mass production to develop and distribute visionary designs by contemporary designers. From the mid-60s Cassina began producing original furniture objects by Le Corbusier; objects such as the LC2 sofa, the chaise longue LC4 and the LC1 armchair. In addition to such established classics the Cassina division I Contemporanei places an emphasis on contemporary furniture design and works closely with renowned international designers such as Konstantin Grcic or Mario Bellini.