Lella Vignelli 1934–
Lella Vignelli was born in Udine. She received a degree from the School of Architecture, University of Venice, and became a registered architect in Milan in 1962. In 1958, she received a tuition fellowship as a special student at the School of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. In 1959, Ms. Vignelli joined Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Chicago, as an architect in the interiors department. The following year, with Massimo Vignelli, she established the Vignelli Office of Design and Architecture in Milan.
In 1971, the Vignellis established Vignelli Associates in New York, where Lella Vignelli was initially Executive Vice President, and then Chief Executive Officer. Seven years later, they formed Vignelli Designs, a company dedicated to product and furniture design.
Mrs. Vignelli’s work is widely featured in design publications in the United States and abroad. Examples of her work have been included in the permanent collections of numerous museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Montreal, and Die Neue Sammlung in Munich.
Mrs. Vignelli has been the recipient of many awards including: The Industrial Arts Medal from the American Institute of Architects (1973), the AIGA Gold Medal (1983), National Arts Club Gold Medal for Design (1991), the Interior Product Designers Fellowship of Excellence (1992), The Brooklyn Museum Design Award for Lifetime Achievement (1995), The Russel Wright Award for Design Excellence (2001), The National Design Museum Lifetime Achievement Award (2003), The Architectural Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2005).