Digitising the Archive of Cora Nicolaï-Chaillet
A large part of the archive of interior architect Cora Nicolaï-Chaillet has recently been digitised as part of the Disclosing Architecture programme. Almost seven metres of archival materials have been translated into 9490 digital files. The digitisation of this archive, one of the few archives in the National Collection created by a woman, fits with our ambition to reveal non-dominant perspectives in architectural practice, thereby linking the collection to socially relevant themes such as gender issues and women in design.
2 March 2021
Interior designer
Coralie (Cora) Nicolaï-Chaillet (1919-1975) was an interior designer and teacher. She left behind a multifaceted archive that attests to her great commitment to architecture, social housing, and informing the public about home furnishings. The materials include design drawings, texts of lectures and presentations, haikus, travelogues and illustrated children’s books. The digitisation of the photographic materials in the archive is still in progress.
Cora Nicolaï-Chaillet. Construction for a heavy table. Study materials from lectures at the Instituut voor Kunstnijverheidsonderwijs (IvKNO), 1939-1941, where she was taught by Johan Niegeman. Collection Het Nieuwe Instituut, CORA t2.
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Good Living Foundation
From 1952, Stichting Goed Wonen (the Good Living Foundation) played an important role in Nicolaï-Chaillet’s professional life. The foundation, established in 1946, aimed to improve people’s quality of life by liberating the Netherlands from stuffy interiors and heavy furniture by providing information about the “right” home furnishings and the ideal living environment. It considered “taste” to be a matter of education. The foundation’s advice was in line with the minimalist and utilitarian aesthetics of Functionalist architecture: rattan instead of oak, and white walls instead of floral wallpaper. Nicolaï-Chaillet’s archive contains course materials, lectures and slide presentations that she gave for Goed Wonen, as well as texts and articles that she wrote for the foundation’s magazine. She also designed model homes that were intended to set a good example.
Stichting Wonen brochure. Initially known as Stichting Goed Wonen from 1946 to 1968, thereafter the foundation became Stichting Wonen (the Living Foundation) until 1988. Collection Het Nieuwe Instituut, CORA a12.4
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Women’s Liberation
Stichting Goed Wonen was a platform that enabled women designers to develop their network and practice interior design and architecture on a more equal footing with their male colleagues. Women as designers and clients gradually gained more influence after the foundation of Goed Wonen and during the post-war mass production of housing, ultimately contributing to the women’s liberation movements of the 1970s. This development led to a strengthened resolve among feminists to claim a more prominent place in architecture and (interior) design.
Although Cora Nicolaï-Chaillet did not always take an explicit stance on the position of women, she made statements that relate to the emerging second wave of feminism. For example, she wrote in an issue of Goed Wonen magazine:
“ We cannot give a woman an education, emancipation, the right to vote and a more or less equal social commitment to her desires and then, from the moment she becomes the mother of a family, allow her to play the stereotypical 19th-century role without intellectual stimulation. ”
Cora Nicolaï-Chaillet in Griekenland, 1956. Foto Arno Nicolaï. Collectie Het Nieuwe Instituut, CORA f19-24.
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Disclosing Architecture
Disclosing Architecture is a six-year programme designed to improve the visibility and accessibility of the architecture collection, made possible by a one-off investment from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Disclosing Architecture looks at the collection of archives from new perspectives in order to reformulate the collections policy and arrive at new concepts regarding the valuation of historical sources.
Seen/Unseen, the first manifestation of the Collecting Otherwise project, investigates the influence of women and gender fluidity within architectural practice. By viewing archives from a distinctly feminist, queer and decolonial perspective, Collecting Otherwise highlights those perspectives that generally remain hidden in current architectural and archival practices.
Access
The part of the archive that has already been digitised contains mostly drawings and documentation. The photographs in the archive have been digitised by a company that specialises in digitising museum collections. The slide collection will be digitised inhouse over the course of this year as part of a project in which 20,000 slides from various archives will be digitised.
The inventory of Cora Nicolaï-Chaillet’s archive is accessible via the search portal. Through this, you can access the drawings and documents linked to the archival descriptions. The photographs will follow later this year and the slides next year. Cora Nicolaï-Chaillet’s archive also forms part of the multi-year Wikimedia project, which is also part of Disclosing Architecture.