An Architect’s Book Spotlights the Profound Impact of Women Designers

In 1957, Liisi Beckmann moved to Milan, establishing a successful career designing for numerous Italian design firms. Her designs, however, remain mostly invisible with the exception of the Karella Easy Chair designed for Zanotta in 1966. Its undulating form of expanded polyurethane foam covered in vinyl has become an iconic piece, inspired by the coves of Karella, the region of Finland where Beckmann grew up and the chair’s namesake.