Whether you’re looking to redecorate your home or are considering a career in interior design, it can be helpful to know about the most influential interior designers of all time. In this article, you’ll learn about 10 iconic designers and the designs they’ve had the greatest impact on in the world of interior design. Many are familiar names; others may be more obscure or from different eras. Either way, these designers have made major contributions to the field and are worth knowing if you want to get an education in interior design!
1) Elsa Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli was an Italian fashion designer and founder of her own fashion house. She is best known for founding the company that bears her name in 1937, and for the Shocking or Le Smoking look she created in 1954-55. Her most famous clients were Greta Garbo, Colette, Babe Paley, Marella Agnelli, Gloria Guinness, Queen Soraya of Iran, Wallis Simpson and Lady Bird Johnson.
2) Bernard Rudofsky
Bernard Rudofsky was an Austrian-born American architect, anthropologist and furniture designer. He is best known for his essay Architecture Without Architects: A Short Introduction to Non-Pedigreed Architecture. Rudofsky is also noted as the inventor of the multi-purpose hammock chair, which he designed in 1959. In this book he argued that vernacular architecture – buildings created by people without formal architectural training – should be given more attention by architects.
3) Charlotte Perriand
Charlotte Perriand was born in 1903 and grew up in a wealthy family. She was fascinated by furniture design, architecture, and the fine arts from an early age. She studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and became interested in furniture design after seeing a chair in an antique shop that she really liked. After graduating she went to work for Le Corbusier’s architectural firm, where she met Pierre Jeanneret.
4) Eileen Gray
Eileen Gray (1878-1976) was an Irish architect and designer. She began her career designing furniture in Paris before moving to London to open her own design studio. Eileen is most famous for her innovation of the white living room, which she designed for wealthy clientele in the 1920s.
5) Jorge Pensi
Jorge Pensi is a Brazilian interior designer and architect. He founded his own firm, Pensi Arquitetura, in 1978 which has now grown to include offices in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and New York City.
6) Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier, the father of modern architecture, was a Swiss architect and designer. His designs were characterized by their rationalism and an absence of ornamentation. He was also a painter, sculptor, urbanist, writer and designer of furniture.
