These extraordinary women found a way to make their mark in the design world, though once considered something of a boy’s club. Here are highlights of the acclaimed designs by the industry’s leading ladies, talents who are innovating beautifully.
Liquefy Table
Patricia Urquiola, 2017
Patricia Urquiola continues to produce timeless, contemporary designs. Each are defined by a stunning sense of color, texture and material that creates beautiful and functional works of art. Her latest collaboration with Glas Italia comes in the form of the Liquefy Table, an elegant set of tables that evokes a feeling of fluidity. Available as a high or low table and in two different colors, Liquefy is a dynamic design and an instant statement piece.
SVS Rugs
Salem Van der Swaagh
Salem Van Der Swaagh is a textile designer, committed to creating products that have both environmental and social impact. All rugs are designed and hand woven in Berlin, using 100 percent salvaged material from industrial weaving, then repurposed into highly textured, luxurious wool products.
Model 71
Bodil Kjær, 1959
Bodil Kjaer’s iconic upholstered series produced a variety of career-defining designs, including a sofa, lounge chair, bench and low table designed for use in public spaces of contemporary architecture. The Model 71 lounge chair exudes a classic, Mid-Century elegance through impeccably tailored loose cushions and a unique polished metal vaulted leg adding additional comfort and stability while creating a floating effect, a common thread throughout Bodil Kjær’s work.
Modern Line Sofa
Greta Grossman, 1949 | 2015
Modern Line was one of Greta Grossman’s most elegant and minimalistic designs, praised in particular for being representative of her background in Scandinavian design. Her timeless sofa collection has a sleek, feminine and light expression that is supported with elegant slender legs. In her words, the sofa was “developed out of our own preferences for living in a modern way.”
Miira Suspension
Sofie Refer
Miira is a series of lamps in a simple and timeless design, embracing Nordic design’s commitment to both elegance and function. The neatly mouth-blown glass and processed metal give the design balance and depth, while soft light shines from the glass globes creating a warm and unique atmosphere within a room. Shapely and subtle, Miira is brought to life by its fine curves and thin neck, adding to its graceful appearance. Available in a variety of configurations.
Photos courtesy of Suite NY
Being an innovator such a unique and artistic industry as design and architecture takes time and extraordinary effort. To showcase the innovative women making large strides in this business, CovetED Magazine recently highlighted 25 of the most influential women in both design and architecture on their blog.
Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid, the iconic Iranian-British architect known for her powerful, neo-futuristic creations and exemplary architecture. Though her passing in 2016 has left the world with one less imaginative spirit, her artistic views exist in her projects and their impact on those who see or benefit from them.
One of these projects includes the Napoli-Afragola high-speed train station that provides a key interchange hub for four high-speed train lines. Located only 7.5 miles from Naples, these lines will link the north and south sections of the country.
Headshot photo credit: Dmitry Ternovoy. Train station photo credit: Pivari.com
Kelly Wearstler
Interior designer Kelly Wearstler also ranks highly on the list. Known for her aesthetics in modern California luxury, Wearstler’s business has grown remarkably since the early ’90s from a boutique interior design firm to a global lifestyle brand, with designs in lighting, fabrics and furniture in both residential and commercial spaces. Artistic pieces like this gold sculpture showcase a bold, unique presence that makes a statement.
Photos courstesy of flickr.com/designmilk
Neri Oxman
Architect, designer and inventor Neri Oxman is known for making her own statements in both the architectural and scientific fields of study. As Sony Corporation Career Development Professor and Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab, Oxman has coined the term material ecology, which considers “computation, fabrication, and the material itself as inseparable dimensions of design.
In this approach, products and buildings are biologically informed and digitally engineered by, with and for, Nature,” according to her website.
Some of Oxman’s work is included in permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Institute, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and other prestigious organizations. The MIT Media Lab features one of her structures titled Silk Pavilion, created using an algorithm that replicates a silkworm’s biological silk-spinning methods.
Photos courtesy Neri Oxman.
See CovetED Magazine’s full list of 25 female innovators in the link below!