We continue with our tribute to the pioneers of design. Today, the main character is Lilly Reich (1885-1947), a renowned designer, an expert in the design of exhibitions, shop windows and fashion, but also of interiors and furniture.

Born in Berlin, she trained as a textile designer in Vienna and, back in Berlin, she worked as a fashion and furniture designer. She was one of the few female Bauhaus teachers, the first director of the Deutscher Werkbund (the German association of architects, artists and designers) and the right hand - for 10 years - of one of the great architects of the 20th century, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, although their contributions were left in the dark.

Reich is credited with collaboration - though not authorship - in many of the architect's great projects. Among them, the German Pavilion for the Universal Exhibition of Barcelona in 1929, the interior of the Tugendhat House in the Czech Republic and iconic pieces of furniture such as the Barcelona armchair and the Brno Chair (currently edited by Knoll) and the chair B42 (edited by Tecta).

The collaboration between the architect and the designer ended due to the start of World War II, when Mies emigrated to the United States. Lilly focused on teaching at the Berlin University of the Arts and fought for the re-establishment of the Deutscher Werkbund, something that did not happen until 1950, after her death.

Although the role of Lilly Reich was overshadowed by the name Mies van der Rohe, now the Foundation of the same name recognizes her great contribution to design with a grant for equality in architecture.