Mid-Century Modern is the term that broadly describes the dominant style of architecture, interior design, product design, and graphic design during the mid-20th century. Like their European peers, U.S. designers of the mid-20th century emphasized clean lines, simple forms, and functionality in their works. Such minimalistic and organic style is appreciated even decades later; the mid-century modern look is still heavily featured prominently in the market today.
Sadly, however, like many other industries in the mid-20th century, the design sector is no stranger to talented female contributors who did not get the recognition they deserved while actively working. In a male-dominant world, the contribution of female designers is often overlooked or overshadowed by their male peers.
Just by typing “Mid-Century Modern Designers” into Google, we can see that the result is represented mainly by male designers. Without digging further, one might get the impression that female designers of that era did not contribute as much as male designers, which is far from the truth.
A well-known example would be Ray Eames, whose contributions have finally gotten recognition nowadays and was actually one of the first designers listed in the search result, along with her husband. She did not get the recognition she deserved for her work during her lifetime since she collaborated with her husband, and he did all the talking. Another example would be Anio Aalto, who excelled at designing glasswork and collaborated with her husband, who took most of the credit for their collaborative work, just like Ray and Charles Eames.
