Architect, installation artist, lighting and interior designer and provoking theoretician. One of the few well recognized women working in Italy in the hotbed of postwar design, Aulenti made a name for herself with a broad spectrum of unfailingly elegant and innovative work.
Trained as an architect at Milan Polytechnic. From 1954 to 1962 she worked doing graphic design. She was also establishing a long and successful relationship designing furniture for Zanotta. Two of her best known pieces for them, spanning her career, are the 1964 "April" folding chair which was stainless steel with a removable cover, and her 1980 plate-glass "Tavolo con Ruote" table (the one with the great wheels).
Throughout her career Aulenti’s public architecture and design is augmented by her keen theoretical studies of the work. However, she maintained a modest and very personal view of the elements of home design, believing that the inhabitant makes the space. In an interview in a 1970 issue of Vogue her "advice to whoever asks me how to make a home is to not have anything, just a few shelves for books, some pillows to sit on. And then, to take a stand against the ephemeral, against passing trends...and to return to lasting values."
Projects to see if you want to know more about her: Musée d’Orsay in Paris (1980-86), Contemporary Arts Center at the Centre Pompidou in Paris (1982-85), and the Palazzo Grassi in Venice (1985-86).
