Women and Industrial Design
  • Do women have visibility in a field like industrial design?
  • How many women study it?
  • How many enter the job market?
  • What is the presence of women in industrial design awards?
  • Has this changed in recent years?

Studies and Employment

At Lúcid, we set out to create a brief portrait of women in industrial design to determine whether it was truly a male-dominated field or merely a perception.

To do this, we analyzed the presence of women in official industrial design studies and found that, according to the National Institute of Statistics, in the Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development degrees, the male-female ratio was fairly balanced.

The same applies to employment rates: the proportion of men and women securing jobs in the industrial design field is also quite equal, reflecting the study percentages.

Women and Recognition in Industrial Design

But what about public recognition? Have women had a presence throughout history? To answer this, we examined historical industrial design awards such as the prestigious ADI-FAD Awards and the National Design and Innovation Award.

While we found that women have historically had minimal representation in public industrial design recognitions, we also confirmed that, in recent years, their presence has increased, reaching an approximate 50-50 ratio.

In fact, the ADI Medals awarded by ADI-FAD to young talent are now more balanced, with a nearly 50-50 male-female representation, aligning with study and employment data.

Designers Who Inspire Us

What better way to highlight the role of women in design than by recommending some of those who inspire us the most? Here's our selection!

Cecilie Manz

Cecilie Manz, born in 1972 in Denmark, lives and works in Copenhagen, where she founded her own studio in 1998. Known for her home product designs such as furniture, tableware, lighting, and electronics, she has received numerous international awards and collaborates with major brands like Duravit, Fritz Hansen, Bang & Olufsen, among others.

Inma Bermúdez

Inma Bermúdez studied Industrial Design at the Cardenal Herrera CEU University in Valencia. She began her industrial design career working for German design studios such as IDEA, BUSSE DESIGN, and PRODESIGN.

Currently, she runs her own studio alongside Moritz Kefter in Valencia and collaborates with renowned brands like IKEA and Lladró, among others.

Pauline Deltour

Born in Landerneau, France, Pauline Deltour opened her own studio in 2011, where she works for numerous international clients such as Tolix, Sogo & Seibu, JINS, Lexon, Yellow Innovation (La Poste), and Alessi, among others.

For Pauline Deltour, materials and their properties are fundamental sources of inspiration, allowing her to explore ways to blend robustness and utility.