Eileen Gray

Eileen Gray, born on August 9th, 1878, was a female architect and furniture designer. Gray grew up in London and took up painting as a hobby and job. By 1920, she opened up a shop known as: Galerie Jean Desert. This shop allowed her to open up an art gallery to show her work and designs. What made this unusual news was not that a new shop was created, but rather that a woman was in charge of the store’s management. With the help of a few others, she changed the stigma of woman not being able to open shops. During 1920-1930, many of her works and practices were revolutionary to the design field. What made her furniture and designs unique was the modern aspect of style it had. Even today, her designs could be consider chic and modern.

Eileen Gray’s next step and contribution to design was architecture. In 1930, she built 2 houses in Castellar and Roquebrune. French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier helped encourage Gray into taking initiative and join the architecture scene and build her houses. Before her death on October 31, 1976, she worked with British designer Zeev Aram to project her work into the world. She wanted to leave an impact on the world and make sure that her legacy stood strong when she passed.

Her legacy still stands today in even more fields of work she believed. Her work can be considered architecture and industrial design, but some of her creations can be considered interaction design. Many designs of her focused more on functionality than its aesthetic look. Her piece, “E-1027 Adjustable Table,” was made to fix a problem for people in offices. Gray wanted to make a side table to accompany someone sitting down. It’s main goal was to be adjustable at any height and make it usable at any height. As interaction designers, our goal is to make sure it is easy for the user to navigate.

Sources:

“ARAM: Eileen Gray.” ARAM Eileen Gray, www.eileengray.co.uk/.

Study.com, study.com/academy/lesson/eileen-gray-biography-furniture-architecture.html.

“Eileen Gray: an Architect and Designer You Should Know: Blog: Royal Academy of Arts.” Blog | Royal Academy of Arts, www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/eileen-gray-architect-designer.

“Eileen Gray.” Eileen Gray – Bard Graduate Center, www.bgc.bard.edu/gallery/exhibitions/99/eileen-gray.

Finney, Sophie. “Eileen Gray’s Influence on Modernist Architecture.” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 30 July 2013, theculturetrip.com/europe/ireland/articles/eileen-gray-the-essence-of-modernist-architecture/.