For Eileen Gray, who had studied fine arts, the early 1920s in Paris marked her breakthrough as a designer. Commissioned by the glamorous Madame Matthieu-Lévy, Gray designed the complete interior of Matthieu-Lévy's apartment on Rue de Lota. This project included numerous pieces of furniture, lacquered walls, and paravent screens. Completed in 1924, this comprehensive work was highly acclaimed by the press and became renowned beyond Paris. Named after the street where the apartment was located, the LOTA sofa remains a part of the ClassiCon catalogue today—a piece that is both comfortable and timelessly elegant.
Juliette Mathieu-Lévy's apartment on Rue de Lota was one of the most sensational examples of 1920s French interior design. Eileen Gray spent five years creating the furnishings for this remarkable space, including black and silver lacquer panels and large lacquer partitions. Among the pieces she designed were a luxurious daybed and the Dragons armchair, which gained fame when it was sold for 22 million euros in 2009 as part of the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé collection—making it the most expensive piece of 20th-century furniture to date.
Another highlight was the spacious LOTA sofa, featuring sumptuous cushions and lacquered side panels. Gray was so fond of this design that she later had a second one made for her own apartment, which she kept for the rest of her life. Today, the LOTA sofa, measuring 240 cm wide and 88 cm deep, remains in the ClassiCon catalogue. It features an upholstered beech wood frame with a spring core, distinct cubic side boxes made of high-gloss lacquered MDF (available in various colours), and luxurious loose cushions. The covers are offered in fabric or leather in multiple colours.
The multifaceted work of Eileen Gray
Eileen Gray (1878-1976) profoundly influenced modern interior design with her innovative approaches and architectural theories. Her tubular steel furniture, once revolutionary, is now iconic. The Adjustable Table E1027, one of her most famous designs, is a bestseller in the ClassiCon collection and has been part of the Museum of Modern Art in New York's permanent collection since 1978.
ClassiCon, the world's sole licensee of Aram Designs Ltd, London, includes many of Gray's pieces—chairs, armchairs, daybeds, rugs, and lamps—in its portfolio. Gray's collaboration with Zeev Aram in the 1970s helped bring her designs to production maturity. She transferred worldwide production and distribution rights to Aram's company in 1973. The Vereinigte Werkstätten in Munich, which evolved into ClassiCon in 1990, was already producing and distributing Gray's designs under licence.
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