Johanna Grawunder was born in San Diego, California, in 1961 and is an architect, an artist and a designer. Her work encompasses a broad spectrum, and reaches from public light and colour installations and architectural projects and interior design to limited furniture and light collections.
Grawunder studied at the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and graduated in 1984 in architecture. After graduating, she moved first to Florence and then in 1985 to Milano to work at Sottsass Associati. In 1989, she became partner of the studio Sottsass and dedicated herself mainly to architecture and interior design. Together with Ettore Sottsass, she developed some of the company's most prestigious projects. She left the studio in 2001 and founded her own design office in San Francisco and Milano. Grawunder has worked together with many renowned architects and designers and created mass to measure lighting installations. One of her clients is the brand Flos for which she designed the successful Wan collection. Beside projects for light companies, she also designed many private homes worldwide.
The lighting objects by Johanna Grawunder very often contain concealed light sources in vivid colours that create a unique and thrilling light. Her designs are permeated with her architectural background and the inclusion of modern technologies is also a pillar of her work. Her creations are presented in many museums in the world, among them the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Art institute of Chicago.
Robert, the restaurant in the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City and a lighting installation for the free harbour of Luxemburg count among the most remarkable designs by the American designer.