Metalworker, furniture designer, and building innovator / 06
Jean Prouvé Learned to Design Where Metal Bent
He did not begin with an architecture degree. He began with tools—and insisted that a design earn its shape through construction.
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Area of Study
Self-taught Design
Taste, craft and visual problem-solving without the art-school price tag.
Design Stories
The Cheat Code to their successArchitect, landscape designer, and Pritzker Prize laureate / 07
Luis Barragán Learned to Build with Memory and Light
His engineering degree was real. So were his architectural studies. The independent achievement lay in turning those foundations into an unmistakably personal art.
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Couturier and innovator of sculptural clothing / 08
Cristóbal Balenciaga Learned Fashion from the Inside Out
Long before his surname became a global label, a tailor's apprentice learned enough about construction to change the silhouette itself.
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Fashion designer and creative leader of Prada and Miu Miu / 09
Miuccia Prada Made Contradiction Her Design Education
A political-science graduate entered the family accessories business and made supposedly wrong materials and awkward references central to luxury.
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Harlem fashion designer and luxury streetwear pioneer / 10
Dapper Dan Built the Luxury Wardrobe Harlem Wanted
Denied a conventional place inside luxury, Daniel Day built a neighborhood design language that luxury eventually had to acknowledge.
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