Lella Vignelli

Lella Vignelli studied at IUAV University of Venice and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The recorded working language is Italian and English. The field of work recorded is architecture, design and industrial design. Employment is recorded with American Airlines, Ford Motor Company and IBM. Works named in the authority record are St. Work by Lella Vignelli is recorded in the collections of Art Institute of Chicago, British Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Centre Georges Pompidou and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Distinctions recorded are AIGA Medal, Compasso d'Oro, Gold Medal for Italian Architecture and gold medal.

• Name — Lella Vignelli • Birth Name — Elena Valle • Born — August 13, 1934 • Birthplace — Udine, Italy • Died — 22 December 2016 • Place of death — New York City, US • Known for — Co-founder of Vignelli Associates and Unimark International • Spouse — Massimo Vignelli • Children — Luca Vignelli Valentina Vignelli[1] • Education — Università Iuav di Venezia, Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture • Occupation — Architect Designer Businesswoman • Awards — Presidential Design Award National Design Award National Arts Club Gold Medal AIGA Gold Medal Honorary Doctorate, Parsons School of Design Honorary Doctorate, Corcoran School of Art

Lella Vignelli was born in Udine, Italy. She was the daughter of the architect Provino Valle, and the sister of Gino Valle and Nani Valle, both also architects.[5] She met Massimo Vignelli at an architecture convention in 1951 and they married in 1957.[6] She received a degree in architecture the Università IUAV di Venezia, followed in 1958 by a funded fellowship as a scholar at the MIT School of Architecture. In 1962, she became a registered architect in Milan.[8]

In the mid-1950s, Lella Vignelli's professional concentration was interior, furniture, and product design.[9] She was also involved in the formation of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI), an Italian professional design organization. In 1959, she joined architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago as a junior interior designer. The following year the Vignellis established the Massimo and Lella Vignelli Office of Design and Architecture in Milan. Lella specialized in interior architecture, furniture, exhibition, and product design.[10] She was one of the founders of the corporate design consultancy Unimark International, along with Massimo, Bob Noorda, and Ralph Eckerstrom.[12] At Unimark, Lella Vignelli served as the head of the interior design department in Milan beginning in 1965, and later in New York.[13] Some of the Vignellis' notable designs from this period are their brand identity commissions for clients such as Knoll International, for which they led a comprehensive review of the company's visual presence starting in 1965; the graphic identity and logo of American Airlines, designed in 1967; as well the design of as a collection of melamine plastic stacking dinnerware for Articoli Plastici Elettrici (later marketed in America by Heller).[14] The design was awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1964,[15] and was still in production and sold as Vignelli Stacking Dinnerware in 2023, nearly 60 years after it was first introduced.[16] In 1971, the Vignellis established Vignelli Associates and opened offices in New York, Paris, and Milan.[20][21] As Vignelli Associates, their work included corporate identity design alongside publication, exhibition, furniture, product, jewellery, and clothing design.[22] Lella focussed on the three-dimensional design work of the practice, and also served as Executive Vice President and later Chief Executive Officer. The firm's commissions included corporate identity programmes for Bloomingdale's department store in 1972, Lancia automobiles in 1978, and Ducati motorcycles in 1992, as well as the signage system for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 1997. Vignelli Associates was commissioned to design the graphic identity, signage systems, and subway map for the New York City Subway in 1972. The design was based on "abstract simplicity" with all of the subway lines indicated using straight, vertical, horizontal, or diagonal lines arranged at either 45 or 90 degree angles. Each subway line is indicated using a unique color, while the stops are designated with a simple black dot. This color-scheme is repeated on the corresponding colored circular icons on the signage throughout the subway system, platforms, and trains.[23] That map was met with some criticism for being difficult to understand, although it has been described as "a cult phenomenon for generations of graphic designers".[24] In 1978, the Vignellis founded Vignelli Designs, a separate company which focused on product and furniture design, and for which Lella served as president. Their furniture designs included the Handkerchief chair for Knoll (1985);[25] the Serenissimo table (1985) for Italian manufacturer Acerbis;[26] and the Magic coffee table (1990) for Acerbis's lower-priced Morphos label.[27] Other Vignelli designs have included retail layouts for Artemide, jewelry for Cleto Munari, and glassware for Venini and Steuben Glass Works.[28] LelIa Vignelli also collaborated closely with the architect Denise Scott Brown, and was a frequent speaker and juror for national and international design organizations.[29] She was a member of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), the International Furnishings and Designer Association (IFDA), and the Decorators Club of New York.

• American Airlines, 1967 • Bloomingdale's, New York, 1972 • Knoll International graphic program, 1966–1980 • Xerox (in collaboration with Jay Doblin Associates and Jack Hough Associates) 1985–1989 • United States National Park Service, 1977 • Italian Grand Hotels Company, 1978 • Sotheby's graphic program, 1981–1982 • Park Tower Realty, 1985–1988 • Aetna Life and Casualty, 1988 • Fodor's travel guides

• Heller stacking dinnerware, 1964 • Ciga Hotels, 1978 • Handkerchief chair for Knoll, 1983[30]

• Bloomingdale's, 1972 • Barney's, 1977 • Saks Fifth Avenue, 1978 • IBM, 1984–1986

• New York Metropolitan Transit Authority, 1966 • Washington Metro Transportation, 1968

• Illustration — Vignelli Center for Design Studies, Rochester Institute of Technology In 2008 Massimo and Lella Vignelli agreed to donate the entire archive of their design work to the Rochester Institute of Technology, near Rochester, New York. The archive, which contains c. 500,000 items including "sketches, prototypes, models, technical plans, correspondence, contracts, mechanicals, photographs, material samples, videos, and digital files" is held in a new building, designed by the Vignellis, called The Vignelli Center for Design Studies, which opened in September 2010.[42] As well as display, storage, and conservation facilities for the archives, the Vignelli Center includes exhibition spaces, meeting rooms, classrooms, and offices.[43]

Lella Vignelli was recorded at birth as Elena Valle. The authorities additionally record the headings Elena Valle and Lella Valle. Her recorded languages were Italian and English. She was the child of Provino Valle and Ave Regè. She married Massimo Vignelli.

Lella Vignelli is recorded as having received AIGA Medal, Compasso d'Oro and Gold Medal for Italian Architecture.