Designer, artist and architect Eileen Gray was one of the most fascinating creative figures of the 20th century. Her body of work includes lustrous lacquered pieces — her Dragons chair set an auction record for modern furniture ($28 million) at the 2009 sale of the Yves Saint Laurent estate — and sleek chrome furnishings that rival the work of Le Corbusier and the members of the Bauhaus as exemplars of pure, modernist design.
The independent and unconventional daughter of Irish landed gentry, Gray studied painting at London’s Slade School of Fine Art in her early twenties before moving to Paris in 1906 to pursue her artistic dreams. Gray had become captivated by lacquerware after seeing an exhibit in the Victoria & Albert Museum, and in Paris persuaded an expatriate Japanese master of the painstaking process, Seizo Sugawara, to teach her. Within a few years, Gray had become known among the cognoscenti for her sculptural lacquered furnishings, which she incorporated into the homes of interior design clients.
Gray was ever evolving as a designer. By the early 1920s she was creating geometric works that embodied the essence of Art Deco and the nascent modernist design movement. Some pieces — such as her Bricks screen, an assemblage of pivoting rectangular panels — employ the planar forms favored by Gerrit Rietveld and other De Stijl architects of the Netherlands. Others feature the tubular chrome framing used by Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. These include the Bibendum chair — named for the resemblance of its semicircular back and armrest to the character known in English as the Michelin Man — and the adjustable E 1027 side table, conceived in 1927 for the interiors of a stark white villa she designed for herself in the South of France.
Never a self-promoter, Gray drifted out of the limelight in the 1930s. Interest in her work was revived in the early ’70s, however, when the estates of her early clients came to auction. Her original lacquer pieces are the most coveted, but, as the sale of the Dragons chair shows, are rare and extremely expensive.
None of Gray’s designs were made in large numbers until, a few years before her death, she granted a production license. These pieces range in price from $1,000 to $2,500, depending on furniture type and condition. Gray’s work has become iconic of practical and elegant modernist design. Yet, as you will see on 1stDibs, many of her creations have a simplicity that makes them welcome even in a traditional setting.
Eileen Gray Bar Stool No. 1 Black Leather Chrome, circa 1920
By Eileen Gray
Located in Vienna, AT
Eileen Gray bar stool no. 1, designed in 1920s, production by Classicon circa 1985- engraved and numbered. Classical design by Eileen Gray that...
Stainless Steel, Chrome
Customizable ClassiCon Bar Stool No. 2 by Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in New York, NY
Eileen gray created not only classical seats such as sofas or chairs, but also a series of unconventional bar stools. Version no. 2, originally designed for the house E 1027, also fe...
Steel
Stool in leather black ClassiCon Bar Stool No. 2 design Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in Alcamo, IT
Brand: ClassiCon Model: Bar Stool No. 2 Design: Eileen Gray, 1928 Eileen Gray was not only a creator of classical seating, such as sofas and chairs, but also a pioneer of unconventi...
Steel
Customizable ClassiCon Adjustable Bar Stool No. 1 by Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in New York, NY
Eileen Gray designed bar stools in several variations. The Bar Stool No. 1 is the simplest and most handsome of them all. It initially found itself, along with the folding mirror Cas...
Steel
Stool in leather ClassiCon Bar Stool No. 1 design Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in Alcamo, IT
Brand: ClassiCon Model: Bar Stool No. 1 Design: Eileen Gray, 1928 Eileen Gray designed several variations of bar stools, and the Bar Stool No. 1 stands out as the simplest, most ele...
Steel
Leather ClassiCon Bar Stool No. 2 design Eileen Gray - Black
By Eileen Gray
Located in Alcamo, IT
Brand: ClassiCon Model: Bar Stool No. 2 Design: Eileen Gray, 1928 Eileen Gray was not only a creator of classical seating, such as sofas and chairs, but also a pioneer of unconventi...
Steel
Pair of Mid-Century Modern Adjustable Bar Stools
Located in Port Jervis, NY
Pair available only. Fully adjustable in height from 30.5, 28.5, 26.5 and 24.5 seat heights. Swiveling freely bar stools are in amazing condition. Almost no wear. Made by the Admiral Chrome Corp from Detroit Michigan...
Steel, Chrome
$3,300 / item
H 31.11 in W 17.72 in D 20.87 in
ClassiCon Roquebrune Chair in Black with Chrome Legs by Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in New York, NY
For the terrace of her second house in Castellar Eileen Gray designed a very comfortable chair with a deep seating area. It was covered with blue canvas. She created another version,...
Steel
$7,429 / item
H 29.53 in W 24.81 in D 26.38 in
Customizable ClassiCon Bonaparte Lounge Chair by Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in New York, NY
Bonaparte is one of the seldom cases in which the luxurious comfort of an upholstered chair has been successfully united with a tubular steel construction. The result communicates bo...
Upholstery
$1,946 / item
H 19.69 in W 19.69 in D 13.39 in
ClassiCon Cork Side Table No 2 Designed by Herzog & de Meuron
By Herzog & de Meuron
Located in New York, NY
Stool or side table. Dark cork with impregnation, milled from one block. Sustainably produced and flexible in use – a design object that works in any living environment. Warm, grou...
Cork
Eileen Gray “Monte Carlo” Red Leather and Chrome Sofa for ClassiCon
By Eileen Gray
Located in Miami, FL
The Monte Carlo sofa was originally designed by Eileen Gray in 1929 during the Bauhaus movement and was later licensed and produced by ClassiCon. This example is from circa 1990s an...
Chrome
Customizable GLOOH Bar Stool with Cantilever by KFF
By KFF
Located in New York, NY
Price listed for leather. Fabric is less expensive One design concept — many prototypes: be they conventional chairs, catilevers or barstools including the pneumatic spring type, GLOOH, aside from having an extensive range and comfort to offer, conveys an unmistakable design. Small wonder that GLOOH has been distinguished with an international award on a number of occasions. Height adjustable swivel bar...
Leather
e15 Customizable Aswan Stool by Ferdinand Kramer
By Ferdinand Kramer, e15
Located in New York, NY
The simple and elegant stool Aswan features a handwoven seat surface finished in a textile band or vegetable tanned leather, which is luxuriously soft and will patinate with exposure...
Textile, Wood
$3,300 / item
H 31.11 in W 17.72 in D 20.87 in
ClassiCon Roquebrune Chair in White with Chrome Legs by Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in New York, NY
For the terrace of her second house in Castellar Eileen Gray designed a very comfortable chair with a deep seating area. It was covered with blue canvas. She created another version,...
Steel
$7,583 / item
H 30.71 in W 22.45 in D 24.81 in
Customizable ClassiCon Non Conformist Chair by Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in New York, NY
It piques and provokes what one might expect of it, and yet it is inexplicably aesthetic and harmonious, a nonconformist on velvet paws. Eileen Gray commented quite pragmatically on ...
Leather
$8,683 / item
H 28.35 in W 35.44 in D 31.11 in
Customizable ClassiCon Bibendum Lounge Chair by Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in New York, NY
Bibendum is one of a kind. Nowhere in the history of design will one find an armchair that compares to this. It is captivatingly harmonious despite its size and unites a majestic imp...
Upholstery
$2,293
H 31.11 in W 17.72 in D 20.87 in
ClassiCon Black Leather Roquebrune Chair by Eileen Gray in Stock
By Eileen Gray
Located in New York, NY
Roquebrune Chair Eileen Gray, 1927 leather For the terrace of her second house in Castellar Eileen Gray designed a very comfortable chair with a de...
Leather
$2,877 / item
H 31.11 in W 17.72 in D 20.87 in
ClassiCon Roquebrune Chair in Cognac with Black Legs by Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in New York, NY
For the terrace of her second house in Castellar Eileen Gray designed a very comfortable chair with a deep seating area. It was covered with blue canvas. She created another version,...
Steel
