The women who designed history

We celebrate some of the female designers who have led the way in their field and forever changed the history of design.

Paola Navone

Born in Turin, Italy, Paola Navone has found a home in many parts of the world, living and working in both Asia and Europe. Furniture designer, architect, interior designer and artistic director - even after graduating, she began to forge a path that went against prevailing norms and opened up new ways of looking at design. In the 1980s, she joined the Alchemia Group, a multidisciplinary avant-garde group that questioned the conventions of the time, which has both broadened and opened doors for future designers and architects. As part of the Alchemia group, she was instrumental in pushing forward the 'anti-design' movement that opposed the industrial and minimalist expressions that underpinned the Bauhaus, among others. Another turning point in Paola Navone's career was when she entered a competition to create a new design for Abet Laminati, one of the world's leading manufacturers of decorative laminates. 30 years later, she is still working with the company. As artistic director of Gervasoni, she broke new ground in the 1990s, designing one of their most iconic furniture lines, Ghost. At Nordiska Galleriet you will find Paola Navone's designs in the Pinecone lamp series from FontanaArte and the Ivy series from EMU as well as the garland, Kiki Outdoor Lamp, for Martinelli Luce.

Editorial Splash 1 - Kvinnorna som designat historien

Editorial Splash 2 - Kvinnorna som designat historien

Patricia Urquiola

As artistic director of Cassina since 2015, Patricia Urquiola has an obvious place in today's design industry. Born in Spain in 1961, she moved to Milan to study at the Polytechnic University and, after graduating, began a collaboration with the Italian furniture company DePadova, where she quickly became an important asset. Together with the legendary Vico Magistretti, she designed several successful pieces of furniture, including the Flower chair and the Loom sofa. In 2001 she opened her own design studio and now designs for B&B Italia, Bosa, Kartell, MDF Italia and a number of other major brands. Patricia Urquiola begins each project by building a connection with the user who will then interact with her designs to create objects that relate to people, something she learnt from designer Achille Castiglioni. In addition to design, Studio Urquiola is often asked to develop the workplace or production cycle of the future. By creating links between craftsmanship and industrial research and connecting design heritage with innovation and technology, Patricia Urquiola pushes companies to reuse materials and create new constructive manufacturing processes. At Nordiska Galleriet you will find the Tufty-Time Sofa and the Husk H3G armchair designed by Patricia Urquiola.

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Charlotte Perriand

Charlotte Perriand is now recognised as one of the most influential modernist designers of all time. She was born in 1903 in Paris and trained at the Ecole de L'Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs. At the age of 24, she designed the Bar Under the Roof installation, a built-in chrome-plated bar and chairs for the Salon d'Automne exhibition. The exhibition was a sensation, leading Le Corbusier to take notice of her. What began as an assistant role to Le Corbusier quickly evolved into a creative collaboration between the duo and Corbusier's cousin Pierre Jeanneret. The design trio designed the classic armchairs LC1, LC2 and LC7. Charlotte Perriand showed a particular interest in storage and the impact of the environment on our well-being. During the 1940s, she travelled to Japan where she was introduced to the Zen philosophy in which she recognised her own view of quality of life and interior design. She went on to design UNESCO's Japanese garden at their headquarters in Paris. In the post-war period, Perriand focused on architecture, but her furniture designs are considered as relevant today as they were 80 years ago. As a progressive and innovative designer, several of her pieces have now achieved iconic status and over time she has received the attention and recognition she deserved. Today, Cassina has the exclusive rights to produce her work. At Nordiska Galleriet you will find the stools Tabouret Méribel and the table 527 Mexique designed by Charlotte Perriand.

Editorial Splash 3 - Att forma det moderna

Tabouret Méribel

Cassina

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