Women who designed the future: from Bauhaus to Generation Alpha

The design that breaks glass ceilings 

To mark International Women’s Day, the Silestone Institute gathers the legacy of women in design to pay tribute to those who have transformed the field and driven a new way of understanding creativity. From the pioneers of the Bauhaus to Generation Alpha, female designers have fought against invisibility and paved the way in a sector traditionally dominated by men.

Pioneering and groundbreaking design

We start with the recent history in one of the high points of female creative achievement, the inclusion of women in the BAUHAUS school.

The book Bauhaus Mädels (Taschen Publishers) is dedicated to the Bauhaus Women and reveals the story of freedom, creativity and innovation of 84 of the 462 women who were part of the training institution through their portraits.

After the First Great War, women housewives, teachers or nurses, and, depending on their social status, factory workers or drivers, had become the caretakers of a society that was trying to emerge from destruction. This time of need for labour resulted in greater freedom of movement and action for women in society and a certain economic emancipation that gave rise to educational concerns. Between 1919 and 1933, the three branches of the Bauhaus School in Weimar, Dessau and Berlin, the most renowned school of art, crafts, architecture and design in history, were active. Among the students, a group of intellectual women from wealthy families saw the school as a place of freedom.

 

Design and documentary photography

The book shows a photographic exploration of women’s lives at the school and the moments of conviviality and fun. Among them are Marianne Brandt, the first woman admitted to the Bauhaus metal programme, whose designs Alessi uses to this day; Gertrud Arndt, Lucia Moholy, Gunta Stolzl, Anni Albers… Pioneers who, after the closure of the school, expanded their knowledge in other countries to which they went into exile during the Second World War. The path to creative freedom was open, however the evolution of training and the incursion into the world of work in the 20th century was very uneven and with ups and downs. Centuries of invisibilisation of women and confinement to the domestic domain slowed down equal access to education and equal opportunities in the world of work.

 

Progressive design and dissemination

Up to the 21st century, we can speak of revolutionary activists who open new possibilities, break glass ceilings and facilitate the progression of successive generations. Dissemination is fundamental to create references for new generations, and is linked to knowledge, to unveil and highlight women of the past and present.

In Spain, the Círculo Orellana, a group of women who mentor other professional women, disseminates the memory of women of the past who left their mark, such as the architect Matilde de Ucelay, the first recognised female architect, through conferences at the Cervantes Institute.

In Spanish design, names such as Toni Miserachs, Gemma Bernal, Rosa Vila Abadal, Lola Castelló, Nina Masó, Sandra Figuerola, Marisa Gallén, Montse Padrós, Ana Mir, among many others exhibited in the exhibition ‘HERE WE ARE, women in design! left the mark of different creative visions, and they reach our days with the strength of those who break imposed moulds, from the 20th century to the present day.

 

Design and historical inspiration

The force of creative actuality can be seen until March at the Fundació Mies van der Rohe in Barcelona with the Il·lacions Gallery. The exhibition ‘Una cambra pròpia’ is a conceptual intervention that pays tribute to all those women who have made contributions to design in recent history.

The authors of the tribute represent the best of the experimentation and advancement of design being developed in Spain: Carla Cascales, Ines Sistiaga, Jana Tothill, Sanna Völker, Marria Pratts, Laura Molina, Mago Hart, Si. atelier, Mariadela Araujo and Rosa Cortiella, have been inspired by Eileen Gray, Lilly Reich, Anni Albers, Aino Aalto, Charlotte Perriand, Eva Zeisel, Lina Bo Bardi, Franca Helg, Andrée Putman and Maria Pergay, all of them pioneers in the world of design. Together they recreate the room that the writer Virginia Woolf considered one of the two priorities for a woman to develop her creativity, economic freedom and a space of her own.

 

Design and support networks

Major international design events, such as Maison & Objet in Paris, have started the Women&Design by Maison&Objet project in 2025, led by Mélanie Leroy, CEO of SAFI. It has been set up as the first international network of women who innovate, move boundaries and have a real impact on the design industries.

Among hundreds of women-led projects presented at M&O, the Berlin-based Matter of Course, a women’s collective from various design and craft disciplines that seeks to showcase the diversity of perspectives in the social and environmental commitment of their designs in their platform.

And the third edition of the project ‘Woman x Woman, design in transition’, a biannual exhibition, this year made up of pieces by six of the great female industrial designers of the moment: Inga Sempé, France; Raffaella Mangiaroti, Italy; Birgitte due Madsen, Denmark; Charlotte Lancelot, Belgium; Jade Purple Brown, USA and Fumie Shibata, Japan.

In this long and intense transition of revolution, activism and visibility of women in design and all related disciplines, there is still a long way to go. We can affirm that, thanks to the pioneers, we are in a positive evolution with new opportunities for the new generations, especially the generation of ALFA designers, who will open barriers from design between the digital and the physical world, the duality in which we live and the one to come.

Research, text and photos by Marisa Santamaría.