Gray Matters

Gray Matters explores the long, fascinating life and complicated career of architect and designer Eileen Gray, whose vision defined and defied the practice of modernism in decoration, design and architecture.

Making a reputation with lacquer work, she became a critically acclaimed designer and decorator before reinventing herself as an architect, a field in which she labored largely in obscurity.

Apart from the accolades that greeted her first building - perversely credited to her mentor - her work was done privately and to her own specifications. But she lived long enough (98) to be re-discovered and acclaimed. Today, with her work commanding extraordinary prices and attention, her legacy remains elusive, contested and compelling.