March is Women’s History Month!

It’s that time of year again when we celebrate all the boss-ladies killing the game in the design industry. From architecture and interior design to public art, furniture design, graphic design and beyond, we thank all the female pioneers serving as role models for the future generations of aspiring female designers.

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh –  mural artist

Have you ever seen the series “She’s Gotta Have It” on Netflix? Well, meet the real-life Brooklyn-based artist behind the character’s artwork in the series.

Tatyana is a street artist breaking barriers against street harassment of women. She is most well known for her “Stop Telling Women to Smile” public art campaign.

Susan Kare – iconographer

Susan Kare is basically the reason that designers didn’t have to become computer coders, too.

She developed some of the earliest digital fonts, graphics, and “click-to-command” icons for Apple (so when you click the “trash can” icon something gets deleted, or you select the “pen” icon to begin drawing).

Margaret Calvert  – typographer

Ever wonder who was behind the design for much of today’s modern road signage? Let me quench that thirst for knowledge by introducing Margaret Calvert.

Margaret was hired on by her professor, Jock Kinneir, in1957 to design easy-to-understand pictograms that drivers could read passing by at high speed.

She also created the fonts used across all of Britians transportation signage in train stations and airports.

Norma Sklarek – architect

Having overcome much racism and sexism in America, Norma Sklarek became the first licensed black female architect in California in 1962, and the first black female member of the AIA in 1959.

She often collaborated with Caesar Pelli on iconic structures such as the Pacific Design Center (pictured) and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.

Towards the later years of her career, she started her own practice with Margot Siegel and Katherine Diamond in 1985. This became the nation’s largest woman-owned architecture firm (Siegel Sklarek Diamond).

Grete Jalk –  furniture designer

Grete Jalk is recognized for evolving the modern Scandanavian home by designing multifunctional furniture pieces that embraced the societal and technological progress happening in the mid-twentieth century.

Her pieces, much like puzzles, included pull-out seating, built-in storage, folding tables, and compartments for the evolving television and stereo systems.

Brandy LeMae, Principal of WORKSHOP8

Our leading lady is a mother, a wife, an artist, an interior designer, and the owner of WORKSHOP8 with over 25 years of project management and design experience. Before WORKSHOP8, Brandy was the owner of Blink! Creative, a boutique graphic design firm, as well as VaST Architecture before it was rebranded to WORKSHOP8 in 2010. She is a mother at home and to us here in the office, and a fearless one at that!

Ladies of WORKSHOP8

Left to right: Sydney Angel, Maris DuBois, Chelsea Semelka, Megan Stanley