A designer and teacher at the Bauhaus School who partnered Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, working with him on the German Pavilion design for the 1929 International Exhibition on Montjuïc. That partnership lasted for ten years, leaving highly acclaimed works such as the interior of the Tugendhat House (Czech Republic) and the iconic Barcelona and Brno chairs. Although it is impossible to know which one of them came up with the concept for these creations, the designer’s involvement is undeniable, despite the fact that Van der Rohe's name is more widely heard. She was director of the prestigious Bauhaus school. It is also thanks to her that a collection of 3,000 drawings by the German architect – which she saved from destruction at the height of World War II – are preserved, along with 900 of his designs. During the war, she spent three years in a forced labour camp in precarious living conditions, but following the Allies’ victory she returned to her profession and her design studio. In her final years, she worked as a lecturer in interior design and construction theory at the University of the Arts in Berlin.
A designer and teacher at the Bauhaus school, she was associated with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, with whom she partnered on the design of the exhibition at the German Pavilion in the 1929 International Exposition