Page 10 - Roisin McGrath_2

Eileen Gray
B. August 9, 1878. Enniscorthy, Wexford
D. October 31, 1976 Paris, France.
One of the first women to attend the Slade
school of fine art, London, where she took
up painting. She also did an apprenticeship
in a laquer workshop and she also
studied cabinet making.
In 1906, she sought out Japanese lacquer
master, Seizo Sugawara, who trained her
in the laquering techniques where she
took an interest in red Negoro
lacquer. It is a technique that
requires humid, dust free conditions
so she worked in her bathroom.
She became one of the leading designers of
laquered screens and decorative panels.
Her style is a blend of art deco and
modernism and she distanced herself
from the standardision of forms and
manufactoring that were popularised
at the time by some modernist
designers such as Le Corbusier.
She used furs, ivory, lacquer, and
exotic woods, as part of her
luxurious materials collection in her
furniture and design work.
"To create, one must first question everything"
She used very luxurious and elegant materials in
her designs which emphasised her elegant designs Eileen Gray
and gave them an exclusive ambience. Some
of her most used materials were leather,
Bibendum chair fur, glass, tubular stainless steel, and
wood, particularly exotic woods.
Her famous house, E-1027. The name is a
code for her and her lover, Jean Badovici.
The E stands for Eileen, and the numbers
correspond to their initials, 10 for J, 2 for
B, and 7 for G.
She has a very modernist style in her
paintings and it seems to have inspired
her furniture such as the ebony and
Adjustable Table E-1027 ivory rug below.
Transat chair
Transat chair with fur Dragon chair Ebony and ivory rug