Kazuyo Sejima
Kazuyo Sejima (1966-) is a Japanese architect, founder together with her colleague Ruye Nishizawa (1966-) of the award-winning studio SANAA. A leading exponent of a new generation of Japanese architects capable of reinventing the lessons of the masters, Sejima is the interpreter of a highly original architecture that breaks all ties with previous historical models, giving life to spaces of a completely new conception based on curved lines and extensive use of transparency. Sejima's career began in the 1980s, first with an apprenticeship at Toyo Ito's studio and then on her own, with the foundation in 1987 of Kazuyo Sejima & Associates. The foundation of the SANAA studio dates back to 1995 and was born from the decision to partner with the younger Nishizawa, who had been her collaborator for several years. Sejima and SANAA’s best-known works include the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa (2004, awarded the Golden Lion at the IX Venice Architecture Biennale), the Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne (2005-10), and the New Campus of Bocconi University in Milan (still under completion). They also designed the fourth and most recent production plant for the famous Vitra brand on the Vitra Campus (2012). In 2010, SANAA was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize, the most important international recognition in architecture. Seijima’s work as a product designer is very rare: in particular, special collaborations with the Italian brand Driade and the Japanese manufacturer Maruni are noteworthy.