The Vignelli Center, founded in 2010, is home to the complete professional archives of the renowned designers Massimo and Lella Vignelli. The design center has a collection of over 750,000 artifacts, showcasing the Vignellis' work that are accessible to the public on two floors of galleries.
The Vignelli Center features thousands of artifacts by numerous designers from the 20th and 21st centuries in addition to the Vignelli archives, which are available for research, education, and creative inspiration.
Located in the campus of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), The Vignelli Center for Design Studies acts as a focal point for design education, scholarship, and research, broadening the range of courses provided by the design school at RIT. The school provides degree programs in computer graphics design, new media design and imaging, industrial design, interior design, and graphic design.
Who are The Vignellis?
Described as “two of the world's most influential and important designers”, Lella and Massimo Vignelli significantly influenced both industrial design and graphic design in the United States and Europe, during the latter part of the 20th century. This husband-and-wife duo produced graphic designs or corporate identities to brands like IBM, Skyline Magazine, Bloomingdale’s, as well as designing the map of the New York Subway system and the interiors of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Manhattan and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
Known for their minimalist and functional style, Massimo and Lella Vignelli were also furniture designers. The Metafora cocktail table, Handkerchief chair, PaperClip table, Serenissimo table and Magic coffee table are the pieces that stand out the most amongst their furniture designs.
