Celebrated as one of the founding fathers of Brutalism, Le Corbusier was enamoured with the vast capabilities of concrete. Often referring to the home as a “machine for living”, his designs are as focussed on function as they are on form. Among his outstanding projects is the modernist city of Chandigarh in India, the Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York and the convent of Sainte Marie de La Tourette near Lyon.

Beginning his experimentation into furniture design in 1928, Le Corbusier is renowned for his collaborations with Charlotte Perriand and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret. Driven by the belief that furniture needed to be functional as well as beautiful, his designs are brilliantly simple and minimalistic. Innovatively utilising materials such as chrome-plated tubular steel and cowhide, Le Corbusier, along with his co-creators, developed instantly recognisable pieces such as the LC4 Chaise Longue, the LC1 Armchair and the LC3 Sofa that remain world-renowned to this day.

Initially conceived for the Unité d’habitation de Marseille and Bhakra Dam in 1952, the Borne Béton Light is a standing table and floor lamp that has over the years become an archetype of its genre. The ultimate task light, Borne Béton is crafted from concrete in a fluid form reminiscent of the shape of bankers lamps, reinterpreted into a starkly modern mould. The light’s source manifests as a strip of bright, dimmable light on the bottom side of the lamp’s top surface, creating a direct beam of strong emanations, ideal for reading or working, or even lending dark corners an illuminating touch.