Interior designer


Le Corbusier was annoyed that after I had organized several exhibitions of his pictures in my „mezzanine“ studio gallery I had never spoken to him about an exhibition of his sculptures. For my part, it was only possible to exhibit and sell works when I was completely convinced by them. I needed a certain amount of time with the sculptures as I could not find any way of „access“ them in the first two years.
One day, he said to me: „Madame Weber, Joseph Savina le sculpteur qui réalise avec moi des sculptures a des difficultés financières parce qu' il ne peut pas les vendre.“ „Madame Weber, Joseph Savina, the sculptor I work with is in financial difficulty because he is unable to sell any of them.“ He wanted me to focus intensively on selling them. From one day to the next, the beauty and the complexity of his sculpture opened up to me and this was an extremely exhilarating experience.
I immediately organized an exhibition exclusively of his sculptures, which was very gratifying for me, and it also meant I could help his friend Joseph Savina. So I dedicated myself completely to the sales. As an interior designer, I once furnished and converted two houses of two art-loving Zurich industrialists. I was able to interest the men in the sculptures and thanks to my conviction get each of them to buy a piece. I was happy to transfer a significant sum of money to Le Corbusier and he was able to pay Joseph Savina for the first time. I had to pay him in advance for all the sculpture that I needed for the major Sculptures Le Corbusier-Savina exhibition. Because there were only two collectors, I am now the happy owner of some of his most astonishing wood sculptures.


During my first visit to Paris, I asked Le Corbusier: „Monsieur, il y as des jeunes architectes qui aimeraient acquérir une lithographie de vous. Où est-ce que je peux les trouver?“ „ Monsieur, young architects who would love to have one of your lithographs ask me constantly where can I find one?“ Le Corbusier: „Il y'a des années que j'en ai faites quelques-unes mais ils ne se sont jamais vendues.“ „I made a few some years ago, but they didn't sell.“ „Monsieur, si on ne les expose pas ils ne se vendent pas.“ „If one does not exhibit them, they cannot be sold.“
Le Corbusier listened with interest. After a short pause, he stood up, walked with his long, heavy steps to his small office and picked up the phone. I eavesdropped on his conversation. „C'est vous Fernand, ici est Corbu.“ „Is that you, Fernand? This is Corbu.“ Le Corbusier went on: „Mourlot j'ai ici une jeune fille de la Suisse, elle veut vous faire travailler.“ „Mourlot, there's a young woman from Switzerland here, who wants you to do some work.“ Le Corbusier: „Je veux vous la présenter, je vous invite demain pour le dîner chez le chinois à l'angle du Restaurant La Coupole.“ „I will introduce you to him tomorrow so I'm inviting you to lunch at the Chinese on the corner, Restaurant Coupole.“ In the presence of Mourlot, Le Corbusier praised me as a reputable and energetic person and said he should work with me in the future. Before we had drunk the coffee, I said to Fernand Mourlot: „May I come to your printing shop now?“ Le Corbusier and Mourlot were rather taken aback I took up the offer without further ado. (They probably had a relaxing afternoon in mind.)

Mourlot and I developed an excellent working relationship and produced several thousand sheets featuring some one hundred different subjects by Le Corbusier. He was very happy because I became a very good customer and, as he later told me, I was one of the few who paid immediately. My basement was continually filling with large boxes marked with the sender: Imprimerie Mourlot Paris. I took the risk that the original lithographs would not sell, and I only sold them be means of a lot of work, exhibitions and catalogues. Le Corbusier never gave any thought, not even during this venture, to how I would manage all this alone.