The design of Gray’s Bibendum chair (pictured) was inspired by the inflated tire shape of the Michelin Man. A house, the Irish architect Eileen Gray once said, should be a kind of living creature. Above “formulas,” above “beautiful ensembles of lines,” above anything else, a house should be centered on “life,” she said. “The poverty of modern architecture stems from the atrophy of sensuality.” Perhaps no house has ever lived up to these dictates quite like Gray’s own E-1027, a relatively modest 1, 400-square-foot villa near Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in the South of France. Gray began working on E-1027 in 1926, completing its designs three years later, in 1929, when she was 51. Although its genius perhaps should have seemed readily apparent, it took decades until she received the critical acclaim for it that her male peers—Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius among them—received in spades This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty-One Buy Now Related Stories Design Issue 19 David Rager David Rager, co-founder of design firm Weekends, shares his tale of LA and Paris and how he makes time for life’s little distractions. Design Issue 19 A Day in the Life: Frida Escobedo With her own firm and scores of global projects in her inventive portfolio, this architect is transforming Mexico City, one artful building at a time. Interiors Issue 19 Prankster’s Paradise Is the nine-to-five grind approaching monotony? Arrive at the office early to even the playing field and invoke mirth for your co-workers. Design Issue 19 In Anxious Anticipation The effects of adrenaline are positively pulse-pounding, but the physical whoosh we feel in our bodies actually starts in our brains. Design Issue 18 Happiness by Design Think more like designers: The strategies employed to create a perfectly proportioned bookshelf can also be used to enhance our personal well-being. Design Issue 18 Sense in Symmetry From radial swirls to mirror images, the natural world often shows that there’s beauty in balance.
Design Issue 19 David Rager David Rager, co-founder of design firm Weekends, shares his tale of LA and Paris and how he makes time for life’s little distractions.
Design Issue 19 A Day in the Life: Frida Escobedo With her own firm and scores of global projects in her inventive portfolio, this architect is transforming Mexico City, one artful building at a time.
Interiors Issue 19 Prankster’s Paradise Is the nine-to-five grind approaching monotony? Arrive at the office early to even the playing field and invoke mirth for your co-workers.
Design Issue 19 In Anxious Anticipation The effects of adrenaline are positively pulse-pounding, but the physical whoosh we feel in our bodies actually starts in our brains.
Design Issue 18 Happiness by Design Think more like designers: The strategies employed to create a perfectly proportioned bookshelf can also be used to enhance our personal well-being.
Design Issue 18 Sense in Symmetry From radial swirls to mirror images, the natural world often shows that there’s beauty in balance.
