Category Archives: PIONEERS

There is a quiet, understated elegance to the award-winning architecture of Billie Tsien and Tod Williams, which seems to blend effortlessly in with its surrounding space. In contrast with the macho, monolithic architecture that populates so many of our cities their world is more cerebral and considered, a contemplation of how real people and real…

American design duo Charles and Ray Eames are icons of the 20th century, pioneering the streamlined naturalism of Mid-Century Modernism. Their particular brand of Modernist architecture, interiors, furniture and industrial design was both playful and minimal, injecting fun into the po-faced seriousness of the design world. He was the clean minimalist who revolutionised weightless design…

Husband-and-wife team Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch are the charismatic, larger-than-life founders of Roman and Williams, an American interiors and architecture firm making waves throughout the contemporary design world. Founded in 2002, their company took the names ‘Roman and Williams’ from their maternal grandfathers, a move that would set the stage for their design ethos,…

Marion Mahony Griffin and Walter Burley Griffin, aka the Griffins, were an exceptional design team, with radical ideas that spanned continents and cultures. Both architects, they established their joint business in California in the early 20th century before relocating to Australia, making their mark with environmentally aware urban design. Both were united by mutual respect…

One of the most formidable design pairings of the mid-20th century, Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi founded the radical, controversial American architectural studio Venturi Scott Brown and Associates, also known as VSBA. Working in tandem from 1969 to 2012, they pioneered a postmodern approach to design, believing architecture and urban design should reference the…

Italian duo Anna Castelli Fierrieri and Giulio Castelli are the faces behind iconic furniture brand Kartell, which brought cheeky fun to the mid-20th century market with vibrant, shiny plastic furniture. They were a formidable design team, she the designer, he the biochemist, fusing his cutting-edge plastic production with her radical modernist design. Such was the…

“The more one digs, the more one finds the solidest [foundation] for you and I to build a life together.” Eero Saarinen Aline and Eero Saarinen are considered titans of the architectural world, each having made vital, long-lasting contributions to the landscape of American modernism. She was the esteemed writer and broadcaster who made architecture…

One of America’s most iconic furniture brands, Knoll was founded by the formidable husband and wife team Florence and Hans Knoll. Emerging out of post-war New York, their sleek, polished designs introduced the Bauhaus style into American society, emphasising function, form and simplicity over decoration and ornament. They pioneered the modern, open-plan office, believing furniture…

From architecture to textiles, furniture and interiors, some of the world’s most innovative designs have been produced by what we might call ‘power couples,’ romantic partners sharing an equal drive and ambition to succeed. Rising as a phenomenon from the early 20th century onwards, power couples have taken the design world by storm in the…