Unesco has classified seventeen buildings in seven countries by Le Corbusier, including the Antwerp House Guiette, as world heritage. Le Corbusier was not only an architect but also a furniture designer. Cassina still has the monopoly on the LC Collection.

Initially, Le Corbusier, born in 1887 as Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, used ready-made furniture for his projects. He started experimenting with furniture design in 1928, when architect Charlotte Perriand joined his studio. His cousin Pierre Jeanneret contributed to his designs as well.

The original LC Collection consists of nineteen pieces, of which the first four are probably the best known. These are the LC1 Basculant chair, later also called the Sling Chair, the LC2 Grand confort, petit modèle and LC3 Grand confort, grand modèle armchairs and the LC4 Chaise longue. All of these were presented at the Paris Salon d’Automne art fair in 1928. Le Corbusier saw furniture as a “docile servant”. “A good servant is discreet and self-effacing in order to leave his master free. Certainly, works of art are tools, beautiful tools. And long live the good taste manifested by choice, subtlety, proportion, and harmony.”

LC Collection production exclusivity

From 1930 on, German company Thonet started manufacturing the furniture designed by Le Corbusier, Jeanneret and Perriand. Through Swiss gallery owner Heidi Weber, who had the LC Collection produced by local artisans from 1959 on, production exclusisivity landed with the Italian Cassina S.p.A. in Meda in 1964.

More than half a century later, Cassina remains the only company that is allowed to manufacture and sell the LC Collection. The design company combines craftmanship with the latest technology to produce these timeless classics, always after the authentic examples of nearly a century ago. On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the LC Collection, the furniture was recoated with an environmentally friendly jacket.

Have a look at the LC50 anniversary movie below or check out our range of Le Corbusier furniture here.