Raffaella Mangiarotti is an architect and designer. Born in Genoa, she lives and works in Milan. She graduated with honours in Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano under the supervision of Professor Tomás Maldonado, and obtained a PhD in Environmental design in 1994. After collaborating with Marco Zanuso and Francesco Trabucco, she established her own practice by designing innovative products for leading multinational companies including Whirlpool, Smeg, NEC, Panasonic, Nestlé, Mercedes Benz. Over the years she has specialized in furniture and creative direction and overseen important projects for various brands in the design field.

In the course of her career she has won some of the world's leading design awards. Her works have been displayed in several museums, in both group and solo exhibitions. Some of her designs have become part of permanent collections, including the MoMA in New York.