Furniture Markings

As mentioned above, the furniture produced for the Chandigarh project was not made in one single operation or at just one place of manufacture. On the contrary, the option chosen by the teams of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret consisted in simultaneously opening a number of carpentry workshops which worked regularly over time to respond effectively to the ever-changing demand.

In order to be able to exercise a degree of control over the various production processes and to be able to supervise the machining, division and distribution of the various pieces of furniture as much as possible, they decided to establish a cataloguing system which was meant to facilitate an incontestable and immediate inventory-taking process. An identification number based on letters and figures was stencilled or painted freehand on the back or side of many pieces. This process had the advantage of being inexpensive and very flexible to use because, in order to ensure perfect stock management, all they needed to do was write this information in registers that were kept up-to-date and stored in the secretarial office of each department concerned. It should be emphasised, however, that while this solution in theory seemed perfectly simple to master, the reality was quite different.

The main obstacle arose from the fact that the furnishings in the private houses of Chandigarh were not subject to this rule.

Indeed, this requirement only applied to items delivered exclusively to administrative establishments.

Complicating the analysis further, it should be noted that while some pieces are devoid of any number, either by omission or because the numbers have faded over the years, others are liable to have several numbers. This is because if they were moved from their original location to be used elsewhere for any reason, another mark might be placed on them. The task of fully deciphering all the information provided by the coding system is made all the more difficult today by the fact that some marks were made directly by the cabinetmakers at the place of manufacture, according to the orders and the items’ intended destination, using personal and sometimes “anarchic” criteria.