Gae Aulenti Settees
The Italian architect and designer Gae Aulenti will forever be best remembered for her work with museums, in particular her 1980–86 renovation of a Beaux Arts Paris train station to create the galleries of the Musée d’Orsay. Aulenti — whose first name, short for Gaetana, is pronounced “guy” — should also be recalled for her tough intellectual spirit and for working steadily when few women found successful architectural careers in postwar Italy.
After she graduated from the Milan Polytechic in 1954, Aulenti opened an architectural office. She also joined the staff of the progressive architectural magazine Casabella, whose editorial line was that the establishment, orthodox modernism of Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus, had outlived it usefulness. When their movement for fresh approaches to architecture and design received a sympathetic hearing, Aulenti found patrons — most prominently Gianni Agnelli, of Fiat, who later employed her to renovate the Palazzo Grassi in Venice for use as an arts exhibition space.
Commissions for showrooms and other corporate spaces brought Aulenti to furniture design. She felt that furniture should never dominate a room. Her chairs and sofas — low-slung, with rounded enameled metal frames and ample seats — and tables, particularly her 1972 marble Jumbo coffee table for Knoll, project solidity and sturdiness. In lighting design, however, Aulenti is bravura.
Each work has a marvelous sculptural presence. Pieces such as her Pipistrello table lamp and Quadrifoglio pendant are a perfect marriage of organically shaped glass and high-tech fixtures. Others have a futuristic elegance — and some even have a touch of personality. Aulenti’s Pileino and La Ruspa table lamps each look almost like little robots. Her lighting pieces are an artful grace note in the career of a woman who believed in strength.
Find vintage Gae Aulenti armchairs, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti Settees
Leather, Walnut
1950s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti Settees
Wool, Beech
2010s American Louis XVI Gae Aulenti Settees
Metal
1980s Italian Post-Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti Settees
Leather, Lacquer
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti Settees
Stainless Steel
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti Settees
Upholstery
2010s Italian Gae Aulenti Settees
Steel
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti Settees
Metal, Chrome
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Gae Aulenti Settees
Fabric, Ash, Mahogany
2010s American American Classical Gae Aulenti Settees
Velvet, Maple
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti Settees
Bouclé, Elm
1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti Settees
Teak, Leather
1880s English Aesthetic Movement Antique Gae Aulenti Settees
Beech
