Le Corbusier (1887 – 1965), born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, is seen as one of the most influential architects of modern age. The Swiss-French designer, architect, painter, urban planner and writer was and continues to be recognized as a design leader on a worldwide scale. 

Beginning with a commission to build a home at 18 years old, Le Corbusier enjoyed a decades-long career in multiple industries. In architecture, he became known for his adherence to the golden rule and his Five Points of Architecture, while his accomplishments in urban planning are truly admirable. His furniture was also popularized, inspiring hundreds of other modern pieces. His most well-known pieces are his LC-1, LC-2 and LC-3 chairs. 

Famously stating that “chairs are architecture” and that “sofas are bourgeois,” Le Corbusier upheld his design principles regardless of the genre he was working in. Lauded during his lifetime and after, even United States President Lyndon B. Johnson noted that “his influence was universal and his works are invested with a permanent quality possessed by those of very few artists in our history.”