Designer Varvara Stepanova (1894–1958) was one of the greatest creative forces behind the Soviet avant-garde Constructivist group, who aimed to make functional and beautiful products for everyday life.
Varvara Stepanova.
A multi-talented artist, Stepanova produced photomontages, book covers, posters, and theatrical sets, before concluding that her vision would be best realised designing fashion for work and leisure. In 1924–1925, Varvara Stepanova taught textile design at the Vkhutemas art school in Moscow.
Sets and costumes for Vsevolod Meyerhold's production of The Death of Tarelkin at the Theater of the Revolution, 1922. Design: Varvara Stepanova. © Rodchenko Stepanova Archive, Moscow.
In 1921, Stepanova co-founded the Constructivist Group, setting out to design functional yet beautiful products for everyday proletarian life. Stepanova and her lifetime partner Alexander Rodchenko began living together in 1916, and soon entered the whirl of the art world, finding themselves at the forefront of the avant-garde. In 1928, Stepanova made a sports uniform with a striking geometric design that emphasises the human body in action, with sharp angular forms, printed abstract patterns and contrasting colors.
Sports uniforms designed by Varvara Stepanova, 1928. © Rodchenko Stepanova Archive, Moscow.
Poster for Through Red and White Glasses theatrical performance. Design: Varvara Stepanova, 1924. © Rodchenko Stepanova Archive, Moscow.
Eileen Gray (1878–1976) was an interior designer and architect of Irish origin, though she spent most of her life in France creating modernist furniture and interiors.
Eileen Gray, 1927. Photo by Berenice Abbott. © Getty images.
As curator Cloé Pitiot puts it, “If one can say Le Corbusier is one of the fathers of modernity, then one can say Eileen Gray is one of the mothers of modernity.” In 1972, a retrospective exhibition, Eileen Gray: Pioneer of Design, was held in London.
Glass Salon at Rue de Lota Apartment, 1922.
In 1917, Eileen Grey created the interiors of Rue de Lota apartment in Paris.
“A house is not a machine to live in. It is the shell of man, his extension, his release, his spiritual emanation,”—Gray once said. In 1926, at a time when primarily male designers and architects were introducing modern furniture pieces, Gray created her curvaceous and inviting Bibendum chair—an original and feminine take on the geometries and proportions prevalent at the time.
A view from garden on E-1027 villa Eileen Grey built for herself and her lover Jean Badivici. Photo by Mary Gaudin.
Bibendum chair. © Modernclassics.