Johanna Grawunder

Johanna Grawunder (1961–) is an American architect and designer working between Italy and San Francisco, best known for her highly theatrical lighting installations. Her early professional experiences took place in Italy within the context of the radical design experiments of the 1980s: first in Florence at Superstudio (1984–1985), and then in Milan at the studio of Ettore Sottsass, where she remained for more than fifteen years (1985–2001). There, she focused primarily on architecture and interior design, co-signing many of the most significant projects from the final phase of Sottsass’s career. Active independently since 2001, Grawunder has designed furniture and lighting for some of Italy’s most important companies, including Flos, Henge, Glas Italia, Ghidini 1961, as well as a series of vases for B&B Italia. She is also highly active in the field of limited editions created for leading international design galleries, among them the London-based Carpenters Workshop Gallery. Recurring elements in her designs and installations include the use of colored glass to refract and distort light, along with rigorously ordered, geometric forms. Among her most acclaimed interior design projects is Robert, the restaurant located on the seventh floor of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.