In 1928, the Swiss- born French architect Le Corbusier made some investigational furniture designs in collaboration with his cousin Peirre Jeanneret and French interior designer Charlotte Perriand. These designs were notable for incorporating the modernist qualities originally attributed to modern architecture, thus creating them one of the earliest examples of what is now known as modern furniture design. Among these designs by Le Corbusier is the LC 3 Sofa.

While Le Corbusier was one said to have quipped that sofas are bourgeois, the LC 3 Sofa. One of a handful of sofa designs by Le Corbusier, the Le Corbusier Sofa or LC3 is a two-seater sofa inspired by Le Corbusier’s earlier Grand Comfort armchair style. The sofa is fundamentally comprised of a sturdy external frame of chrome-plated tubular steel that creates the loose cushions that work as the sofa’s seat and backrest. Before time production runs of the sofa were also fitted with an interior spring mechanism, though this was discarded in sofas made after the late 1950′s.

Possibly the numerous noteworthy feature of the LC 3 Sofa is that its frame is located on the outside rather than on the inner part as traditional sofa designs have. Believing that customary design is old, Le Corbusier placed the frame of the sofa exterior to highlight its magnificent structure to the client. And to balance its tinny frame, the sofa’s polyurethane and original down cushions are covered with black or white upholstery made from either leather of fabric.

The Le Corbusier No. 3 Sofa is part of the LC 3 furniture compilation which also compose of the LC 3 Meridienne and the LC3 Ottoman. A three-seater version of the LC 3 Sofa was also produced, though it is not portion of the latest collection and was based on various sketches Perriand made at Le Corbusier’s setting.