A Singular Path
In May 1968, the magazine Maison Française introduced a still little-known figure in French design: Maria Pergay, sculptor, silversmith and pioneer of stainless-steel furniture.
Born in Russia in 1930 and later naturalized French, she trained in both classical arts and hands-on craftsmanship, notably spending time in the studio of sculptor Ossip Zadkine.
As an antiques dealer on Place des Vosges, she developed a dual sensitivity: an appreciation for the past and an intuition for the contemporary. This tension would become her signature. Pergay was not a design theorist, but a practitioner: a researcher of forms who turned everyday life into a field of experimentation.
Stainless Steel, a Revelation
In the late 1950s, Pergay moved away from silversmithing to devote herself to an unexpected material: stainless steel. At the time, it was considered industrial and cold, mainly associated with kitchens and laboratories, but she saw it as a noble and demanding material. “I feel it is as precious as the most precious wood,” she explained.
For her, steel was not only resistant: it was pure, luminous and fluid. A mirror that captures light, a surface that structures space. Worked with both rigor and delicacy, it became supple, almost poetic.
Functional Objects, Not Sculptures
Pergay’s first exhibition at the Galerie Maison et Jardin, directed by Gilles Sermadiras, marked a turning point.
These were not abstract sculptures, but functional objects: furniture, vases, lamps, planters and ashtrays. Pergay worked with folded, curved and brushed steel, creating timeless seating, spiral tables and armchairs made from bands of metal.
She applied the precision of a silversmith to everyday objects. “Very hard, steel demands rigor in its lines… and a gentle hand,” she explained.
At a time dominated by wood, Formica and Pop plastics, she introduced a new language that was radical and immediately recognizable.
An Avant-Garde Vision
Supported by Uginox for the supply of materials and by Manelec for production, Pergay imagined furniture that she hoped could become accessible to a wider audience. “All it would take is a few machines and enough orders to industrialize this approach,” she was already saying in 1968.
Her ambition was not to create luxury, but to achieve a sense of rightness: modern furniture capable of coexisting with antiques and resonating with different cultures. “If a modern piece of furniture can live beside a 17th-century piece or an African work of art, then it is right.”
A Work in Constant Dialogue
Pergay always described her work as a dialogue with the material: “I rely greatly on the steel itself to tell me what is best.”
This dialogue lasted throughout her life. Rediscovered in the 2000s by international galleries such as Demisch Danant and Galerie Downtown François Laffanour, she is now celebrated as a pioneer.
Her furniture from the 1960s and 1970s reaches remarkable prices on the market today, but its value goes far beyond economics: it bears the mark of a free-spirited woman who succeeded in making a material considered cold speak with extraordinary sensitivity.
Source: Excerpt from Maison Française — May 1968
For Gilles Sermadiras, who directs and curates the Galerie Maison et Jardin, stainless steel remains an avant-garde material whose use in interior decoration is only just beginning. It is therefore in a spirit of renewal and dynamism that he presents these bold works today.
These are not abstractions, but functional objects intended for everyday use: furniture, vases, lamps, planters and ashtrays. At the beginning of May, the Galerie Maison et Jardin will present to the public the works of this artist, born in Russia and naturalized French, who, after classical studies, worked in various studios, including that of Zadkine. The paths that lead to the creation of a truly new body of work can sometimes be unexpected, yet they can also be understood. As an antiques dealer on Place des Vosges, she has a taste for furniture, beautiful materials and fine cabinetmaking. Having worked as a silversmith and designer for ten years, her sensibility was shaped through years of contact with metal; it became stronger and more refined. Before long, she could no longer bear to work with anything other than this pure, invulnerable metal: stainless steel. Very hard, it demands rigor of line while also requiring the treatment reserved for a noble material. “I feel it,” she says, “to be as precious as the most precious wood.”
She quickly understood the rational uses that could be made of its exceptional qualities, although at first she was struck above all by the strength and splendour she perceived in it.
Yet she took on the challenge with courage, driven by passion. Although the price of this material is relatively high compared with those commonly used in contemporary furniture, such as lacquered wood or plastic, “a few machines and sufficient orders” would be enough for this exceptional type of furniture, once industrialized, to be offered at prices as affordable as the others. She therefore looks to the future with confidence, encouraged and supported by the Uginox company and its head of artistic promotion, Mr Martel, and assisted and advised on technical matters by Mr Dancoine, director of Manelec, which produces her work.
Among contemporary designers, Maria Pergay has the unusual distinction of also being a specialist in antiques, and this gives particular weight to one of her deepest convictions: “If a modern piece of furniture can live beside a 17th-century piece, or alongside African or Mexican works of art, then it is good and right.”
The creation of this collection is only the beginning. Other objects, projects and interiors await her and inspire her. “I rely greatly,” she says, “on the steel itself to tell me what is best, and I hope this dialogue will continue for a long time because I believe I can do much better than what I have already done. As with any search for expression, maturity is necessary. And I am only just beginning.”
Achille