MASSIMO AND LELLA VIGNELLI
Massimo (b. 1931, Milan, Italy – d. 2014, New York City) and Lella Vignelli (b. Elena Valle, b. 1934, Udine, Italy – d. 2016, New York City) were influential and prolific Italian designers and architects. The Vignelli's made important contributions to graphic, industrial and furniture design in the U.S. and Europe during the second half of the 20th century. Some of their most ubiquitous designs are the iconic Bloomingdale’s brown paper bag, the American Airlines’ red, white, and blue logo and the infamous New York City Subway map. Massimo attended art school at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, studied Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano and graduated from the School of Architecture of the Università Ca’ Foscari in Venice in 1953.
Lella was also a student at the School of Architecture of the Università Ca’ Foscari in Venice and later received a scholarship to study at MIT’s School of Architecture. They were married in 1957 and then until 1960 the couple spent most of their time in the U.S.; Lella worked as a designer at the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, while Massimo studied in the U.S. on a fellowship. In 1960, the couple returned to Milan and established the Massimo and Lella Vignelli Office of Design and Architecture, specializing in interior, furniture, exhibition, and product design. Lella received her architectural degree from the IUAV University of Venice in 1962, and in 1964 the couple designed the Saratoga sofa for Poltronova.
In 1966, upon returning to the U.S. they founded Unimark International with partners Bob Noorda and Ralph Eckerstrom in New York City. Unimark quickly became one of the largest design and marketing companies in the U.S., creating the American Airlines logo and the NYC subway signage system. They had a wide range of clients such as Pirelli, Rank, Xerox, and Olivetti. As Unimark continued to move toward advertising rather than design, Lella and Massimo decided to leave in 1971 and established Vignelli Associates.
Vignelli Associates expanded rapidly and opened offices in Milan and Paris, in addition to the central office in New York City. The couple produced graphic designs or corporate identities for such companies as IBM, Skyline Magazine, Bloomingdale’s, Heller Bros. Packing Corporation, Ducati, Lancia, and Knoll, in addition to designing the interiors of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Manhattan and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. They also created the map of the New York Subway system, incorporating the typeset and signage work created while at Unimark.
During this time Massimo and Lella Vignelli also designed furniture such as the Metafora cocktail table for Martinelli Luce (1979), the Handkerchief chair (‘82) and PaperClip table (‘94) for Knoll, the Serenissimo table (‘85) and the Magic coffee table (‘90) for Acerbis, and the Wagneriana floor lamp for Cadigliani (‘86). They also created glassware designs for Venini and Steuben Glass Works.
The husband and wife duo were known to collaborate on almost every piece together, including the furnishings and decorative elements in their New York City home. Their designs were famous for their minimalism and function. For example, their heavy use of black text on white background was to make a bolder statement and to help readers get to the point of the message, and the deliberate use of color evoked sensuality and emotion. Massimo also created a number of new typefaces.
During his lifetime, Massimo served as president of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) and the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and as vice president of the Architectural League of New York. Lella 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. In 2010, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in New York opened the Vignelli Center for Design Studies. The building is dedicated to the Vignelli Archive and master’s courses in history, theory, and criticism of graphic design.
Together, they were awarded the 2003 National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement, the AIGA Gold Medal for 1982, the Architecture Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2005, and the Compasso d’Oro award in 1964 and 1988.
