Lella Vignelli, Italian architect and designer, dies at 82 in New York

Lella Vignelli (born Elena Valle, 1934–2016) passed away in New York. She was an architect and designer known for her partnership with husband Massimo Vignelli. Born in Udine in 1934 into a family of architects (father Provino Valle, brother Gino Valle), she studied at IUAV in Venice and MIT. She began her career at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In 1957 she married Massimo Vignelli, and together they founded Lella and Massimo Vignelli Office of Design and Architecture, moving from Milan to New York in the 1960s. The firm worked for Acerbis International, Knoll, Poltrona Frau, and Driade. Notable projects include silver jewelry for San Lorenzo, fashion collections, Artemide showrooms worldwide, and the iconic red leather armchair 'Intervista' for Poltrona Frau, which became famous through Italian TV studio TG2 in the late 1980s. Massimo Vignelli described their collaboration as cemented by equal passion for architecture and design, and noted that Alzheimer's disease ended their fruitful partnership.