The utilitarian office chair created by designer Pierre Jeanneret for the administrative buildings of Chandigarh, at the beginning of the XXI century, flew around the world and became a cult. We tell you how it happened in our new section.

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Interior fashion does not change as fast as fashion, but there are also trends here: some design items begin to appear in literally every interior. In the “Object of Desire” section, we will talk about iconic designer things that you could definitely see in magazines, in social networks with bloggers, in cafes or restaurants. And the first on our list will be the Capitol Complex Office Chair. The utilitarian office chair created by designer Pierre Jeanneret for the administrative buildings of Chandigarh, at the beginning of the XXI century, flew around the world and became a cult. That’s how it happened. 

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1. The office chair was invented in the early 1950s for a complex of administrative buildings in the Indian city of Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab. It was created from scratch by Le Corbusier on the order of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, which gained independence from Great Britain in 1947.

Pierre Jeanneret in Chandigarh, 1965. 

Denis BRIHAT

2. Pierre Jeanneret, who designed all the furniture for the administrative and residential buildings of Chandigarh, was faced with the task of creating a durable, cheap and easy-to-replicate interior piece. He chose Burmese teak, resistant to high humidity and insects, and ordered the manufacture of chairs by local craftsmen.

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3. In the 1990s, in the buildings of Chandigarh, they decided to change the furniture to a more modern one and they got rid of Jeanneret chairs without regrets. So designer furniture literally became a national treasure — it was sold for a few rupees.

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4. The profile of the chair – legs forming an inverted Latin letter V – is known all over the world, and the subject was popularized by French antiquarians and gallery owners, among whom was Francois Laffanour. In the early 2000s, during a trip to India, he bought several pieces for his gallery, and they were immediately sold.

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5. In the XXI century, a real hunt began for the Chandigarh works of Pierre Jeanneret, and in 2011 the Ministry of Culture of India passed a law prohibiting the export of original chairs from India.

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6. For a long time, only vintage armchairs were in circulation, which were sold for a lot of money at auctions, but since 2019 Cassina has started to re-release furniture created by Pierre Jeanneret for Chandigarh.

3L Decor concept store. 

7. The thing is that in 2016 Chandigarh was included in the UNESCO Heritage List, and the Italian company Cassina, which has been preserving and republishing the heritage of the modernist trio Le Corbusier, Perrian, Jeanneret since 1965, took part in the research of the city and the inventory of property.

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8. The iconic armchair with armrests, recreated from archival drawings and sketches, to which Cassina gained access through the Le Corbusier Foundation, became part of the Homage à Pierre Jeanneret collection, which also included a chair without armrests, a upholstered armchair and a dining table. The company produces them from teak, as in the original version, but there are also versions of light and tinted oak.

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9. This is the favorite chair of architects Axel Verwordt and Joseph Diran. “They are so simple, minimalistic and durable. Put one chair in the room, and it will look like a sculpture”” says Joseph. 

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The house is designed by Thomas | Melhorn Architecture & Construction. 

10. The gallerist Jacques Dvorchak is considered the best connoisseur of Pierre Jeanneret’s furniture. For many years, Jacques studied archives, museum expositions and what remained in Chandigarh, and he managed to collect the most complete collection. He systematized his works in the book Catalogue Raisonné du Mobilier: Jeanneret Chandigarh published by Assouline Publishing house in 2019.

Compact apartment for two by Crystal Sinclair Designs.

Loft in New York designed by designer Justin Charette. 

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