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GERE KAVANAUGH, AMERICAN DESIGNER

Gere Kavanaugh (born 1929) is an American textile, industrial, and interior designer. She is the principal of Gere Kavanaugh Designs. Gere Kavanaugh was born in 1929 and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. She earned a BFA from the Memphis Academy of Art and was the third woman to receive a MFA degree from Michigan's Cranbrook Academy of Art. Kavanaugh worked as a stylist for General Motors briefly before taking a position in the Detroit offices of shopping mall architect Victor Gruen. She worked as a freelance designer in the 1960s and shared studio space with Don Chadwick, Frank Gehry, and Deborah Sussman. She founded Gere Kavanaugh/Designs (GK/D) in 1964 in Los Angeles. Over the years, Kavanaugh has designed ceramics, light fixtures, homes, store interiors, textiles, town clocks, and furniture. She was the first interior designer to win a COLA grant from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. Her work was included in the Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945-1980 exhibit. Kavanaugh also designed a research room and typeface for the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. She was awarded the Julia Morgan Icon Award at the Los Angeles Design Festival in 2014. Kavanaugh lives in Angelino Heights.

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