Lella Vignelli

Lella Vignelli (born Elena Valle; August 13, 1934 – December 22, 2016) was an Italian architect, designer, and businesswomen. She collaborated closely throughout much of her life with her husband Massimo Vignelli, with whom she founded Vignelli Associates in 1971.

She was known for the "spare, elegant style" of her architectural and industrial design work, as well as her management skills and entrepreneurial expertise.

Early life and education
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. She married Massimo Vignelli in 1957. She received a degree in architecture from 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.

Work and career
In the mid-1950s, Lella Vignelli's professional concentration was interior, furniture, and product design. She was also involved in the formation of the ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale), 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.

She was one of the founders of the corporate design consultancy Unimark International, along with Massimo, Bob Noorda, and Ralph Eckerstrom. At Unimark, Lella Vignelli served as the head of the interior design department in Milan beginning in 1965, and later in New York.

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). The design was awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1964, and was still in production and sold as Vignelli Stacking Dinnerware in 2023, nearly 60 years after it was first introduced.

In 1971, the Vignellis established Vignelli Associates and opened offices in New York, Paris, and Milan. As Vignelli Associates, their work included corporate identity design alongside publication, exhibition, furniture, product, jewellery, and clothing design. 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. 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".

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); the Serenissimo table (1985) for Italian manufacturer Acerbis; and the Magic coffee table (1990) for Acerbis's lower-priced Morphos label. Other Vignelli designs have included retail layouts for Artemide, jewelry for Cleto Munari, and glassware for Venini and Steuben Glass Works.

LelIa Vignelli also collaborated closely with the architect Denise Scott Brown, and was a frequent speaker and juror for national and international design organizations. 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.

Recognition and legacy
Lella and Massimo Vignelli were described as "iconic, impossibly exotic characters" in New York Magazine. In 1982, they were both awarded the AIGA Gold Medal for their achievements and contributions to design. The AIGA described their design output together as "prodigious in quantity, far-ranging in media and scope and consistent in excellence."

Collections holding examples of Vignelli's work include those of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London.

Lella Vignelli died in her home in Manhattan on December 22, 2016, at age 82 from dementia.

Vignelli Center for Design Studies
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. As well as display, storage, and conservation facilities for the archives, the Vignelli Center includes exhibition spaces, meeting rooms, classrooms, and offices.

Awards
Lella and Massimo's work has been recognized by a range of international awards and prizes.


 * 1964 Gran Premio Triennale of Milan
 * 1964 and 1989 Compasso d'Oro Awards
 * 1973 American Institute of Architects (AlA) Industrial Arts Medal
 * 1982 Laurea honoris causa Parsons School of Design, New York
 * 1983 American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Gold Medal
 * 1985 Presidential Design Award
 * 1988 Interior Design Hall of Fame
 * 1991 National Arts Club Gold Medal for Design
 * 1992 Interior Product Designers Fellowship of Excellence
 * 1994 Laurea honoris causa Corcoran School of Art, Washington D.C.
 * 1995 Brooklyn Museum Design Award for Lifetime Achievement
 * 2003 National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York
 * 2004 Visionary Award from the Museum of Art and Design, New York.
 * 2005 Architecture Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York.
 * 2011 President’s Medal of the Architectural League of New York
 * 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award at AD 20/21

Corporate identity programs

 * American Airlines, 1967
 * Bloomingdale's, New York, 1972
 * Knoll International Graphic Program, 1966–1980
 * Xerox, 1985–1989 — In collaboration with Jay Doblin Associates and Jack Hough Associates
 * United States National Park Service, 1977
 * Ciga Hotels, 1978
 * Sotheby's Graphic Program, 1981–1982
 * Aetna Life and Casualty, 1988
 * Park Tower Realty, 1985–1988
 * Fodor's travel guides

Product design

 * Heller stacking dinnerware, 1964
 * Handkerchief chair for Knoll, 1983

Packaging

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

Transportation graphics

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

Quotations
"If you can't find it, design it." "If you do it right, it will last forever. It's as simple as that." "I learned an enormous amount from Massimo about how to be a good designer. But I learned how to be a successful designer from Lella."

Publications

 * Vignelli, Massimo (2014). Designed by: Lella Vignelli
 * Vignelli, Massimo (2014). Designed by: Lella Vignelli
 * Vignelli, Massimo (2014). Designed by: Lella Vignelli
 * Vignelli, Massimo (2014). Designed by: Lella Vignelli
 * Vignelli, Massimo (2014). Designed by: Lella Vignelli
 * Vignelli, Massimo (2014). Designed by: Lella Vignelli
 * Vignelli, Massimo (2014). Designed by: Lella Vignelli