MARIA PERGAY

Jul 9

WOMEN IN DESIGN / MARIA PERGAY

This month, we’re sharing the work of Parisian furniture and product designer, Maria Pergay — best known for her iconic and innovative metal furnishings.

Portrait of Maria Pergay sitting in her stainless steel ribbon chair in a dimly lit room filled with her iconic works. Maria is wearing a navy blue blazer and trousers, white blouse, black and white print tie, sheer stockings and black sandals. — Credit / One Hundred Edition

At the age of six, Pergay arrived in France in 1937, as she and her Russian Jewish mother fled Chisinau to escape the threat of a Soviet invasion. Unbeknownst to the family, France was not the safe haven they imagined. Instead, Pergay and her mother went into hiding when the Nazis occupied Paris at the start of World War II.

Surviving the war, Pergay immersed herself in the arts — studying costume and set design at the Institute des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques in Paris, while simultaneously attending sculpture classes in Montparnasse.

As luck would have it, Pergay crossed paths with a college friend who decorated store windows. Her friend, overwhelmed by her workload, sought the help of Pergay. This would be the impetus for the modernist designer, building momentum as she began her career designing silverware and opened her own store Place des Vosges shortly after. Pergay, now well-known for her innovative designs, was sought out to design objects for fashion houses including Christian Dior, Jacques Heim, Hermès; and later in her career, Fendi.

Drawing inspiration from the force of nature, the breadth of Pergay’s work is fashioned with her favorite material, stainless steel — often juxtaposing soft organic, natural forms (like waves, shells, fruit, and tree branches) with the strength of the industrial metal. Her most iconic piece, the Ring Chair, was inspired by the coiling form of an orange peel, “I was peeling an orange for my children, and thought how nice it looked,” she recalled.

Conical, ring-like stainless steel chair against a white backdrop. A shadow of the chair is casted on the floor beneath. The chair coil is reminiscent of a peeled orange. — ‘Ring' chair (1968) / Courtesy of Demisch Danant. Photography / Thierry Depagne

She went on to design palace interiors for Saudi Arabia’s Royal family and furniture for fashion designer Pierre Cardin. Well into her eighties, Pergay continually evolved her stainless steel designs with the exploration of bronze and copper, while incorporating lacquer, wood, and nacre (most notable in her 2013 Demisch Danant Gallery exhibition “Secret Garden”).