International Women's Day: Celebrating Female Designers

In honour of International Women’s Day, we’re shining a spotlight on female designers who have made their mark in the lighting industry. Join us in celebrating their extraordinary talent, innovative creations, and the beauty they've brought to our spaces.

Carlotta de Bevilacqua As an entrepreneur, architect, designer, and professor, Carlotta de Bevilacqua is a prominent figure in the realm of design and modern business vision. As the president and CEO of Artemide, one of the world’s most well-known designer lighting brands, she has created many innovative designs and concepts. In addition to worldwide recognition for her work, she received a Red Dot Design Award for the Algoritmo and Copernico (for Artemide) in 2011.

Kelly Wearstler

Kelly Wearstler’s global luxury lifestyle brand is known for its maximalist designs and signature soulful vibe. Wearstler founded her design firm in the mid-1990s and she has since designed a variety of high-end hotels, apartments, and commercial spaces, including the Four Seasons Anguilla and the Beverly Hills Proper Hotel. Working with Visual Comfort Studio, she has created stunning fixtures that strike the perfect balance between contemporary and vintage.

 

Zaha HadidZaha Hadid is a world-renowned architect who has redefined architecture for the 21st century. Her structures grace the skylines of major cities and her products can be found all over the world. She has won numerous awards for pushing the boundaries in the world of design, including the 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the 2010 and 2011 Stirling Prize, and the 2014 Design Museum Design of the Year Award. For Slamp, she designed the ARIA Chandelier, a dramatized creation to revamp the mundane ambiance.

Patricia UrquiolaAn internationally renowned architect and designer, Patricia Urquiola pushes the limits of research and technology to move towards better design. Her style is unconventional, emphatic, elegant, and balanced between humanistic sensitivity and technological research. She has won numerous awards and her designs are exhibited in art galleries and museums around the world, such as the Museum of Modern Art. Her best-selling Caboche collection for Foscarini features a sparkling multitude of transparent globes, showing off her playful, dazzling nature.

Alexa HamptonSince 1998, Alexa Hampton has carried on her father's legacy at Mark Hampton, elevating the firm's reputation for elegant, practical, classically-inspired interior designs for contemporary living on a global scale. Her diverse portfolio encompasses urban apartments, town and country residences, private airplanes, and yachts, earning her recognition in Architectural Digest’s AD100, House Beautiful’s Top Designer list, and Elle Décor’s A-List. For Visual Comfort Studio, she has created design-rich lighting solutions for every space, featuring an updated neoclassical approach and bold patternwork.

Zsuzsanna HorvathZsuzsanna Horvath is a designer and architect based in Copenhagen, the creator of the ILLAN wooden lamp for Luceplan. Horvath has an extensive background in furniture design, designing various outdoor installations and public buildings. She graduated in 2018 from Aalto University, pursuing her studies in the field of product and spatial design. Today, she runs her own architecture and design studio in Denmark.

Rossana HuAs a co-founder of Neri&Hu, an architectural design practice based in Shanghai, Rossana Hu works internationally providing architecture, interior, master planning, graphic, and product design services. As a Princeton-trained architect, she is deeply committed to architectural education and has lectured across the globe at various universities. For Artemide, Neri&Hu have designed the Yanzi Collection and the NH Collection, showing their ability to blend tradition and innovation. 

Ionna VautrinIonna Vautrin is an award-winning lamp designer, seeking the balance between industry and poetry in each of her creations. After receiving the Prize for Creation of the City of Paris in 2011, she opened her own studio, designing projects with a gentle presence and a warm spirit, using organic and geometric shapes. Her Chouchin collection for Foscarini perfectly captures her colourful, soft, and familiar design qualities.

 

Female designers - both the ones we’ve highlighted and countless others - have truly made an impact in the industry. Their exceptional talent has led to groundbreaking innovations and the beautiful creations we see today. Not just for International Women’s Day, but all year round, let’s celebrate female designers as they pave the way for the bright future of lighting.

Feeling inspired? If you'd like to consult our team of experts, contact us! We're more than happy to answer questions and support you in your next lighting project.