Page 11 - Roisin McGrath_2

Eileen Gray "To create, one must first question everything"

B. August 9, 1878. Enniscorthy, Wexford
D. October 31, 1976 Paris, France.

One of the first women to attend the Slade She used very luxurious and elegant materials in
school of fine art, London, where she took her designs which emphasised her elegant designs Eileen Gray
up painting. She also did an apprenticeship and gave them an exclusive ambience. Some

in a laquer workshop and she also of her most used materials were leather,
studied cabinet making. Bibendum chair fur, glass, tubular stainless steel, and

In 1906, she sought out Japanese lacquer wood, particularly exotic woods.
master, Seizo Sugawara, who trained her Her famous house, E-1027. The name is a
in the laquering techniques where she code for her and her lover, Jean Badovici.
took an interest in red Negoro The E stands for Eileen, and the numbers
lacquer. It is a technique that correspond to their initials, 10 for J, 2 for
requires humid, dust free conditions B, and 7 for G.
so she worked in her bathroom.

She became one of the leading designers of She has a very modernist style in her
laquered screens and decorative panels. paintings and it seems to have inspired
her furniture such as the ebony and
Her style is a blend of art deco and Adjustable Table E-1027 ivory rug below.
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.
Transat chair
Transat chair with fur Dragon chair Ebony and ivory rug