During this year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan, Saint Laurent is turning its attention to design history — specifically, the kind that rarely leaves the archive. Under the creative direction of Anthony Vaccarello, the house is presenting four furniture pieces by French architect and designer Charlotte Perriand, all of which had existed only as sketches or prototypes until now.
The exhibition, Saint Laurent — Charlotte Perriand, will take place at the Padiglione Visconti from April 8 to 13. Each piece was originally conceived between 1943 and 1967 and has been carefully reproduced in limited quantities. It’s a quiet, studied kind of resurrection, one that nods to Perriand’s global life and the interiors she designed for herself and others.
Among the works on view is the Mille-feuilles table, a 1963 design composed of ten stacked wood layers — alternating between light and dark — that form a concentric pattern. The piece never made it to production due to the complexity of its construction, remaining only as a scale model. Also included is a guest armchair from 1943, first designed for Perriand and her husband’s home in Vietnam. The original was lost; Saint Laurent’s version comes directly from one of her drawings.
Perhaps the most striking piece is a 23-foot-long sofa made in 1967 for the Japanese ambassador’s Paris residence. Architect Junzô Sakakura designed the space, and Perriand handled the interiors. The minimalist sofa ran the length of the main reception room — a study in proportion and restraint.
Saint Laurent will also highlight Perriand’s own photographic work. A kiosk outside the brand’s Milan store on Piazza San Babila will offer a book of her photographs along with a catalog of the furniture collection. A broader selection of her images will be on view at Saint Laurent’s Rue de Babylone bookshop and record store in Paris (April 9–May 4), as well as at its Rive Droite location on Rue Saint-Honoré (April 8–May 7).
For Vaccarello, whose creative direction often draws from art and architecture, the project feels less like a detour and more like an expansion — Saint Laurent, but in furniture form.
