Arnold Andre Pierre Jeanneret-Gris was born in Geneva in 1896 and he received his formal education at the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva, where he graduated in 1921. Jeanneret shared a close bond with his older cousin, Le Corbusier (born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret) and in 1922 the two established a design atelier in Paris. During this time, Jeanneret also contributed as a writer to the influential avant-garde journal L'Esprit Nouveau.
After securing independence in 1947, the Indian republican government undertook an initiative to revitalise several major cities, aiming to make them more suited for modern living and reflective of modern ideologies. There was further reorganisation when the Indian state of Punjab was split, which proved to be significant for Chandigarh – the city at the centre of this story.
The Jeanneret cousins were invited by President Jawaharlal Nehru to present their plans for the city of Chandigarh in 1950. It was to become the new capital city in the Punjab region, exchanging the title with Shimla in 1953. Despite a slightly fractious relationship at times, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret reunited at the end of World War II and this reaffirmed partnership secured the commission to design the Indian city of Chandigarh in 1947. During this venture Pierre Jeanneret immersed himself in Chandigarh, assisting in the progress of the city’s development and taking personal charge of structures such as social housing, schools, universities, hotels, the Town Hall, and the Chandigarh Central State Library. He would stay on to become the head of the Architectural department at the University of the Punjab.
Given the vast scale of the Chandigarh project - spanning numerous institutions and building types - the furniture needed to be simple to construct, accommodating the tight timelines involved. This necessity gave rise to a body of minimalist designs made from locally sourced materials such as teak and rattan, which were both practical and readily available. Yet, despite their functional origins, Jeanneret’s pieces retained a clear sense of aesthetic refinement. This thoughtful integration of architecture and furniture design has cemented both the city, and Jeanneret’s role in shaping it, as a landmark of modernist design history - one that continues to drive strong interest in the art and design market.
