The Chandigarh Chair: How Jeanneret Furnished a City

Some furniture is designed for a living room. This was designed for a city. When India entrusted Le Corbusier with the creation of Chandigarh in the 1950s, it was his cousin Pierre Jeanneret who stayed on and furnished the whole administration, piece by piece. Sixty years on, those office chairs are worth a fortune.

The context

1951–1965: Jeanneret fitted Chandigarh with thousands of seats, desks and bookcases in local teak and cane, all made on site. State furniture — functional, unpretentious, destined for the courts, universities and secretariats.

From discard to grail

In the 2000s, the Indian administration replaced these “outdated” pieces with modern furniture. Dealers bought them back by the kilo. Today a PJ chair sells on average in under an hour on Selency, while documented pieces go for several thousand euros at Wright or Phillips — prices that have quadrupled in a few years.

Spotting a real one

Three signs: the patinated solid teak (not veneer), the hand-woven cane (often re-caned, which takes nothing away), and above all the characteristic compass V-shaped legs. Authentic pieces sometimes carry stencilled inventory marks (building numbers). Documented provenance is what makes all the value.

Why it is worth so much

Vintage is no longer ecological, it is positional: owning a real Chandigarh proves you have moved beyond the moodboard stage. It is the connoisseur’s signal object — and speculation has followed.

Spotted a teak chair at a flea market? Scan it on Beyit: real Chandigarh, homage, or just a colonial chair?