Grace Lees-Maffei

Professor Grace Lees-Maffei is Professor of Design History and Programme Director for the Professional Doctorate in Heritage at the University of Hertfordshire. She chairs the Editorial Board of the Journal of Design History and researches design mediation, heritage, domesticity, and globalization. Her scholarship examines how design objects and practices convey cultural meaning across national contexts.

Key publications include edited volumes like 'Design and Heritage: The Construction of Identity and Belonging' (2021) and 'The Design History Reader' (2025). Her work analyzes iconic designs, graphic communication, and Italian design identity through interdisciplinary frameworks connecting material culture, historiography, and social theory.

Professor Lees-Maffei leads the DHeritage programme, supervising doctoral research on heritage interpretation. She has presented internationally on topics ranging from Pugin's influence to professionalization in interior design. Her current projects explore multisensory experiences in domestic spaces and heritage narratives in design curation.