Gae Aulenti (1927-2012) graduated in architecture from Milan Polytechnic in 1954 as one of two women in a class of twenty. Known primarily for her architectural projects, including Milan’s Piazza Cadorna (2000), a highly colorful and brutal design at odds with its surroundings, she also designed showrooms for the Fiat empire, and set designs for La Scala. From 1981-86 she transformed the Musée d’Orsay in Paris from a railway station into the renowned museum for 19th century art. Alongside her architectural activities made a handful of pieces of furniture, mostly for Poltronova, the experimental, less commercial side of Cassina, who produced the chair series Locus Solus, while the lamp, Pileo was produced for Artemide.