The Designer

Eileen Gray embraced all technical innovations with great enthusiasm: she owned a car, travelled by steamship and even flew in a biplane. Above all, during her years in Paris between 1902 and 1930, she was part of a sophisticated, avant-garde scene comprising artists, architects, designers, dancers and intellectuals. Her network ranged from haute couture and performance art to architectural theorists, including early clients such as the fashion designer Jacques Doucet. She met celebrities such as the dancer Loïe Fuller, artists such as Auguste Rodin and Marcel Duchamp, and the architects Jean Badovici and Le Corbusier on equal terms. Gray succeeded in channelling the impetus and inspiration from these encounters into her designs and developing them in a manner that was as creative as it was forward-looking.