Gae Aulenti

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.




1990s Italian Post-Modern Gae Aulenti
Glass
1970s Italian Vintage Gae Aulenti
Glass
1980s Italian Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
1960s Italian Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Murano Glass
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Aluminum, Stainless Steel
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Leather, Wood
1980s Italian Space Age Vintage Gae Aulenti
Aluminum
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Steel
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Marble
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Crystal, Metal
2010s Italian Gae Aulenti
Steel
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Stainless Steel
1960s Italian Vintage Gae Aulenti
Aluminum
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Steel
1980s American Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Marble
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
2010s Italian Gae Aulenti
Steel
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Murano Glass, Murrine
2010s Italian Gae Aulenti
Steel
1970s Italian Post-Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Marble, Steel
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Crystal, Steel, Metal
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Marble
1960s Italian Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Blown Glass
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Marble
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Aluminum
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
1970s Italian Post-Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
1970s Italian Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Fabric
1970s Italian Space Age Vintage Gae Aulenti
Plastic, Fiberglass, Polystyrene
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Steel
2010s Italian Gae Aulenti
Steel
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Gae Aulenti
Marble
2010s Italian Gae Aulenti
Steel
2010s Italian Gae Aulenti
Steel
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
2010s Italian Gae Aulenti
Steel
1960s Italian Vintage Gae Aulenti
Aluminum
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Fabric
1960s Italian Vintage Gae Aulenti
Carrara Marble
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Murano Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Gae Aulenti
Marble
1960s Italian Vintage Gae Aulenti
Carrara Marble
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Gae Aulenti
Aluminum
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal
1980s European Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Steel
2010s Italian Gae Aulenti
Steel
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Gae Aulenti
Aluminum, Stainless Steel
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Steel
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gae Aulenti
Glass
1960s Italian Vintage Gae Aulenti
Metal