Noémi Raymond

Noémi Pernessin Raymond (also spelled Noemi; June 23, 1889 – August 19, 1980) was a French-born American artist and designer who spent much of her career in Japan. Her work included painting, sculpture, graphic design and illustration, furniture, rug and textile design as well as interior design.

Noémi Pernessin Raymond, study of peacock mural for the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, 1920, pencil, watercolor, and gold leaf. Life Born in Cannes, France, Raymond moved to New York with her family around age 12. She graduated from Columbia University where she studied under John Dewey and Arthur Wesley Dow who introduced her to Japanese art and design. She later studied painting at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.

As World War I threatened, Raymond returned to America. On the voyage in August, 1914, she met Czech-born Antonin Raymond who became her design partner and husband. They married in NYC on December 13, 1914. It was her art-world connections which led to her and Antonin working for Frank Lloyd Wright from May–December, 1916.

Designs Together Noémi and her husband worked together on over 500 structures in Japan, India, South East Asia, Europe and the United States, including houses, schools, factories, embassies, churches, etc. Committed modernists, their style combined modern European design with international folk craft traditions. She and Antonin gained recognition as one of the earliest practitioners of the International Style in Asia.

Trained as an artists/designer, Raymond's interest in 3-D design grew as she worked with her architect husband. In 1916, while working with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesen, she realized the importance that furnishings played in manipulating space along with knitting together structures. Noémi went on to design the interiors of many of Antonin’s architectural projects.

While living in Japan in the 1920s, Raymond learned about Japanese craft working as an export broker for various Japanese goods such as lacquerware, ceramics, baskets, and textiles. She worked with Mita Heibonji who taught her the techniques of wood block printing and sumi-e calligraphy as well as an appreciation for folk art, which complemented the Raymonds interest in Japanese rural farmhouse (minka).

Furniture design earned Noémi Raymond praise from her contemporaries. Tasked with blending East and West in a minka-inspired living room by golf course designer Akaboshi Shiro, the artist created "tubular metal chairs" upholstered to mimic "traditional Japanese weaving." Noémi Raymond's insight applied to artistic trends as much as it did to daily life, evident by her inclusion of strategically placed mirrors in the Akaboshi home which allowed his wife to monitor the children from her bedroom.