Eileen Gray, Eminent Contemporary Designer

Eileen Gray, born in Ireland in 1878, trained at the Slade School of Fine Arts, London, in 1902. She moved in 1907 to a Paris apartment which was to be her main home. Isolated and neglected for most of her career, her superior craftsmanship and style have established her as one of the classic modern designers.

As a student in London she was obsessed by the complex art of lacquer and created stark forms with simple geometric decorations. Always shy, it was not until 1913 that she felt confident enough to exhibit her work, resulting in a commission to design an apartment interior for a Parisian collector.

Featuring lacquered screens, it included animal prints, rugs and items inspired by African art, as well as the sensational 'Pirogue' bed, a canoe-shaped daybed in brown lacquer and silver leaf. The apartment was hailed as a 'triumph of de luxe modern living'.

In 1922 Gray opened a Parisian store, Galerie Jean Desert, to sell her work. The best-known was her striking 1926 bedside table with its circular top supported on a stand with a u-shaped base, a form that she also used for the "Bibendum" chair, whose backrest was made from two stuffed u-shaped pieces. Her "Transat" chair had an upholstered seat with an adjustable headrest suspended within an angular wooden frame. She also developed space-saving devices such as the foldable S-Chair and a double-sided chest of drawers.

Gray designed three houses, built on the Mediterranean Coast, damaged during WW2, when she retreated to her flat in Paris. Her Holiday Centre plan was shown in the 1937 Paris Exposition, but she afterwards declined into obscurity, until a revival of interest in women artists in the 1970s. By 1976, when she died, she was sufficiently recognised that her death was announced on French national radio.