Chandigarh Legacy
A Jeanneret tribute with Srelle
Pierre Jeanneret was a Swiss-born architect and furniture designer who for most of his life, worked alongside his more famed cousin Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier. Where Le Corbusier was the visionary, Jeanneret was the executionist that got things done to less fanfare. In recent years, however, Jeanneret has emerged from Le Corbusier’s shadow, thanks in part to renewed international interest for his simple yet strikingly distinctive furniture creations.
Jeanneret studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva and after his graduation in 1921, he became a partner in Le Corbusier’s office in Paris. Together, the duo went on to create some of the most recognisable icons of mid-century modernism, including the Villa Savoye in Poissy, France, and the Pavillon Suisse in Paris. The productive collaboration ended with a rift during the Second World War when Jeanneret joined the French Résistance and Le Corbusier cooperated with the occupying Vichy authorities. The two did not work together until 1955 when Le Corbusier convinced Jeanneret to renew their working relationship on an urban planning project in the city of Chandigarh, commissioned by the Punjab government in India. Chandigarh was an experimental modernist city, a large undertaking that saw Le Corbusier's departure midway through. Jeanneret instead relocated to India and over the course of fifteen years, oversaw all aspects of the project as its chief architect and urban planner. He led and designed a number of low cost, forward-looking civic buildings but arguably his most tangible legacy came from the remarkable array of furnishings he masterminded for the complex. In an age of early industrialised India, Jeanneret's playful virtuosity with low-budget materials was a vanguard in conscious modern design. He chose to work with natural materials like teak and cane for its humid and bug-resistant properties, weaving them into geometrically sturdy and durable pieces. Adamant about involving the local community, he purposely designed his pieces for easy reproduction and enlisted the help of Chandigarh craftsmen to produce chairs, benches, tables, sofas, desks and more. Pieces that are now highly coveted by collectors since first appearing in galleries and high-end auction houses during the early aughts.Today, Srelle celebrates the works of Pierre Jeanneret by creating uniquely hand-made furniture that was first designed for the Chandigarh masterplan. Adhering to the same production techniques, standards and materials used in the early 1950s, each piece out of its production studio near Chandigarh is meticulously approached with care and crafted with informed authenticity.
In partnership with Srelle, the Office Chair featured sits prominently in a quiet bedroom corner — its signature V-shaped compass legs, a hallmark of Jeanneret designs, stands strong and minimal. Finished in darkened teak, deep wood grain details alongside intricately handwoven cane exude a sense of natural warmth and effortless character.
There is indeed something in Jeanneret’s strong lines that respond like a sculptural piece: put one in any room and it becomes a piece of art in its own right. For Jeanneret, his gift as a designer was his ability to create demonstrable pieces that juxtaposed local materials with sophisticated modernist influence, combining functionalism with a form of simplistic expressionism. It is this historic connection that Srelle continues to pay tribute to with genuine and uncompromising Chandigarh craftsmanship, one that respects a legacy rediscovered.
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