When Maria Pergay re-introduced us to steel

Maria Pergay focused, for almost all of her career, on the “sculptural” properties of stainless steel, giving us objects that are considered groundbreaking to this day.

DS.WRITER:

Ιωακειμίδου Χριστίνα

Central Image Source: s3files.core77.com

Stainless steel, wood, ivory and exceptionally polished materials that show respect for minimal aesthetics. This absolute and essential reference could describe the whole of Maria Pergay’s oeuvre. Nonetheless, this description does not do justice to the size of her artistic contribution to the field of design.

From Romania to Paris

Born in the interwar period, Pergay, of Russian-Jewish descent, was one of the victims of the persecution and politics of fear that spread across Europe during World War II. She was, after all, only a child when, together with her mother, she fled from Moldova to Paris, seeking safety. Immediately after the end of the war, she turned to the arts, studying at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques. There, she focused on the study of costumes and set design, studies that seem to have also influenced the way she processes her beloved steel, often creating folds in it, evoking fabric. While studying cinematography, she also attends courses at Ossip Zadkine's Académie de la Grande Chaumière. These two different directions seem to have helped Pergay to develop her own design style since, at the beginning of her career, she was involved in the production of decorative metal objects destined to decorate many Parisian boutiques. In the late 1950s, her work starts to be recognised, as her collaboration with Uginox begins.

Double floor lamp for Uginox (1960s) | Image source: barbmama.com

Her collaboration with Uginox signified her complete and personal turn to the properties of stainless steel.

«Nothing is more beautiful than steel»

After her collaborating with major French fashion houses, such as Dior, Hugonet and Hermès, and creating her own store on the Place des Vosges in Le Marais, Pergay established herself as the preeminent designer of steel, which, however, during the 1960s, she combined with other materials such as semi-precious stones, shells and Asian antiques. However, at the end of the decade, she designs her first and emblematic pieces of furniture: the seats Chaises anneaux, Flying Carpet Daybed (1968) and Bancs vague (1970).

Chaises anneaux (M. Pergay, 1968) | Image source: wright20.com

All three seats are distinguished by their delicately processed materials and meticulous construction, with a finish that makes the final product shine exceptionally without depriving it of its minimal aesthetics.

Vague (1970) |Image source: jousse-entreprise.com

The same design approach is also applied to the Flying Carpet Daybed, which, despite its apparently cold and rigid core material, does not lose the essence of comfort since Pergay, through her “wavy” design, follows the curves of the body that is to be ensconced in the furniture piece.

Flying Carpet Daybed (Μ. Pergay) | Image source: sothebys-md.brightspotcdn.com

Of course, in addition to seats, Pergay’s designs also include tables, like Dining Table (late 60s), with the support design evoking once again the shape of the wave, creating a delicate result.

Dining Table (M. Pargay) | Image source: img.artlogic.net

As you can easily see, Pergay has managed to combine industrial stainless steel with finesse in design and comfort. Her main material of choice does not in any way resemble any natural raw material but she chooses patterns inspired by nature, like spirals, waves etc., without (almost never) hiding -by painting or covering- her main material. As she notes in an interview: My personal style has always been to mix ancient and modern.

The evolution of her designs

Even if Maria Pergay never, throughout her long-lived career, abandoned her love for steel and minimal aesthetics, in recent years she has been creating more intricate compositions, using additional raw materials that are natural for the most part. Ammonite, palm wood, ivory and fur are some of the materials often noted in her creations, like in her 2013 collaboration with the Italian house of FENDI or the 2005 Drape A furniture piece, in which Pergay showcased how well she processes and combines steel with different kinds of wood.

Part of Drape A (2005) | Image source: blogs.cotemaison.fr

The importance of her work

Through her work, Maria Pergay managed to bring to the forefront of French design a material misunderstood by many. Its correct use and processing, its hybridity and the way it can be combined with other materials, more compatible with what was then considered “classic” design, make Pergay's work a unique model for inspiration. An inspiration, however, that does not remain stagnant but tries to evolve, dragging the course of design along a different and extremely interesting path. A path that was the reason for redefining the use of steel for the manufacture of design objects of high aesthetic quality.