Gae Aulenti

Italy

Person

Designer

Born 4 December 1927 Palazzolo dello Stella, Italy Died 31 October 2012 Milan, Italy Gae Aulenti was an architect and designer. After graduating in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano in 1953, she was a member of the editorial team of 'Casabella Continuità' under the direction of Ernesto Nathan Rogers from 1955 to 1965. In 1960 she participated in the exhibition 'Nuovi disegni per il mobile italiano', considered a manifesto of the Italian Neo-Liberty movement. Her best-known designs include the Sgarsul rocking chair for Poltronova (1962), the Pipistrello desk lamp for Martinelli Luce (1965), the 4854 chair for Kartell (1968), and the Tavolo con Ruote glass coffee table for FontanaArte (1980). From 1979 to 1996 she served as art director of FontanaArte, where she designed the Tour table and, together with Piero Castiglioni, the Parola and Nina lamps. Alongside her furniture and lighting designs, she realised numerous exhibition and interior architecture projects, including the award-winning design of the Italian section of the XIII Triennale di Milano (1964), the Olivetti showrooms in Paris and Buenos Aires, and Fiat showrooms in several European cities. She gained international recognition for the conversion of the Gare d’Orsay railway station into the Musée d’Orsay in Paris (1980–1986) and for the design of the Musée National d’Art Moderne at the Centre Pompidou (1982–1985). In 1990 she was named an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and in 1991 received the Praemium Imperiale for Architecture. In 2012 she was awarded the Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement at the Triennale di Milano.