La Danese was founded in Milan by Bruno Danese and Jacqueline Vodoz. The company specialises in editing, designing, and marketing well-designed everyday products with a modern aesthetic. There were three significant focus areas: domestic and office products, artistic editions, children’s games and creative play stimuli.
Designers employed
The company employed many well‐known avant‐garde designers, including Enzo Mari and Bruno Munari (responsible for much of its output), Achille Castiglione, and Angelo Mangiarotti.
Works
Danese produced ceramics, wood, glass, plastic and children’s games. Amongst the most celebrated Danese products were;
- Munari’s melamine Cube Ashtray (1957)
- Mari’s aluminium and PVC Formosa desk calendar (1963).
- Triangular lamp (1961)
- Set of Hemispherical bowls (1969)
Exhibitions
The company’s history was celebrated in a 1988–89 travelling exhibition entitled Objects Danesi: profil d’une collection. Danese was sold to the French company Strafor/Facom in 1992, was acquired by Carlotta de Bevilacqua in 1999 and is now part of the Artemide group, which caters for a sophisticated metropolitan clientele.
Sources
Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.
Woodham, J. M. (2006). A dictionary of modern design. Oxford University Press.
Design Store
Books| Product Design
Creed III
Inside Milan: Colorfully Creative Italian Interiors
Eating Rome: Living the Good Life in the Eternal City
Signature Houses: Private Homes by Great Italian Designers
The World of Federico Forquet: Italian Fashion, Interiors, Gardens
Eating My Way Through Italy: Heading Off the Main Roads to Discover the Hidden Treasures of the Italian Table
Italian Glamour: The Essence of Italian Fashion, From the Postwar Years to the Present Day
Italian Rustic: How to Bring Tuscan Charm into Your Home
The Italian Table: Creating festive meals for family and friends
Radical: Italian Design 1965–1985, The Dennis Freedman Collection
La Vita e Bella: The elegant art of living in the Italian style
The Origins of Italian Fashion: 1900-1945
Italian Textile Design: From Art Deco to the Contemporary
the real Italy: italian photography book | 100 photos selected to represent Italy, Designed by an Italian
Restoring a Home in Italy
Italian Design
Deruta: A Tradition of Italian Ceramics
Masterpieces of Italian Design
Private Tuscany
Private Rome
Audrey Hepburn: The Illustrated World of a Fashion Icon
The Cheat Sheet of Italian Style: Confidence and Sustainable Chic in Ten Struts
Grace Kelly: The Illustrated World of a Fashion Icon
Iconic: The Masters of Italian Fashion
More Italian Design
-
Oceano Oltreluce: A Beacon of Italian Craftsmanship
Oceano Oltreluce, founded in 1981, is an Italian lighting manufacturer specializing in innovative design and craftsmanship. The company’s philosophy is “Italian light workshop,” with in-house production, local sourcing, and authenticity. They embrace eco-sustainability and strive for continuous improvement.Read More →
-
Marco Zotta (b.1945) Italian industrial designer
He designed furniture and furnishings, lighting for clients including Fargas, Le Cose, Studio Grando, Stilnovo and Evoluzione. He became a member of ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale).Read More →
-
Marco Zanuso Sr. (1916 – 2001) Italian architect and designer
Marco Zanuso Sr. was an Italian architect and designer. He was born in Milan. He studied architecture at the Politecnico di Milano, to 1939. Read More →
-
Halogen bulbs revolutionised home lighting
The halogen bulb is the first new invention to completely transform the lighting industry since Thomas Alva Edison succeeded in creating the incandescent lamp by successfully making a loop of carbonized cotton thread glow in a vacuum for 40 hours.Read More →
-
Enzo Frateili (1914 – 1993) Italian Designer
Enzo Frateili was an Italian designer born in Rome and active in Milan. Frateili began his professional career in 1955. In the early 50s, he worked at Stile Industrial; in 1962 he was the Italian correspondent to the journal form. His books included Archiektur und Komfort (1967) and Design e Civiltà della Machina (1969). The…
-
Acerbis an Italian Furniture Manufacturer
Acerbis is a 150-year-old furniture manufacturer in Italy, founded in 1870 by Benvenuto Acerbis and his grandson Lodovico Acerbis, who introduced cutting-edge industrial production and partnerships with avant-garde designers by the 1960s.Read More →
-
The P40 Articulated Lounge Chair – Machine for Sitting
Osvaldo Borsani Armchair (P40) 1955, articulated chaise longue. The rubber-armed chair was a sophisticated ‘machine for sitting’ that could it was claimed, assume 486 positions.Read More →
-
Franco Fontana ( b.1933 ) Italian Photographer – Abstracted Urbanity
Fontana has shot advertisements for brands such as Fiat, Volkswagen, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, Snam, Sony, Volvo, Versace, Canon, Kodak, Robe di Kappa, Swissair, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and The New York Times.Read More →
-
La Danese Italian domestic goods manufacturer
La Danese was founded in Milan by Bruno Danese and Jacqueline Vodoz. The company specialised in editing, designing, and marketing well‐designed everyday products with a modern aesthetic. There were three significant focus areas: domestic and office products, artistic editions, and children’s games and creative play stimuli. Read More →
-
Kartell Milanese Furniture Manufacture | High Quality Plastic
Kartell is a Milanese furniture manufacturer founded in 1949. It specialises in high-quality plastic injection mouldings and the early fiftiesRead More →
-
Flos Italian Lighting Manufacturer
Dino Gavina established the lighting firm Flos in 1962 to complement his furniture manufacturing at Gavina. In Merano, at first, it moved to the Brescia area. Maria Sinoncini and Cesare Cassina were directors, followed by Sergio Gandini. Read More →
-
Zanussi Italian manufacturer and design firm
Antonio Zanussi established the household appliance firm in Pordenone in 1916. It was initially a workshop for repairing stoves. His sons and Guido and Lino took over on his death in 1946, and under them, the firm began its rise. Read More →
-
Archizoom avant-garde Italian design studio
Four architects—Andrea Branzi, Gilberto Corretti, Paolo Deganello, Massimo Morozzi—and two designers—Dario Bartolini and Lucia Bartolini—founded Archizoom this Italian avant-garde design studio in 1966 in Florence, Italy. They focused on exhibition installations and architecture and designing interiors and goods as part of the Italian Anti-Design or Radical Design movement.Read More →
-
The Peace Sowers by Walter Molino
The Painting of John F. Kennedy and Pope John XXIII, entitled the “Peace Sowers,” was done by Walter Molino (1915 – 1997). Molino shows the men moving hand-in-hand through a plowed field scattering “seeds of goodwill.” Molino’s placard underneath the painting reads;Read More →
-
Alberto Rosselli (1921-76), Italian architect and industrial designer
Alberto Rosselli (1921-76) Italian architect and industrial designer. He was born in Palermo. He was professionally active in Milan. Read More →
-
Ashoka Table Lamp – Less is a Bore
For the introductory 1981 MEMPHIS set, the Ashoka table lamp is an early Ettore Sottsass lighting masterwork as iconoclastic a light/sculpture as you can find anywhere!!Read More →
-
Roberto Pamio (b.1937) Italian Architect and Designer
He became active in 1961 as an architect and furniture and industrial designer; (with Renato Tosso) collaborated on furniture and lighting; had clients including Zanussi-Rex, Peguri, Stilwood, Arclinea, Cidue, FAI, Leucos, and Arflex.Read More →
-
A Glimpse of David Palterer an Israeli Designer
David Palterer is an Israeli designer born in Haifa. He is professionally active in Florence.Read More →
-
Benedikt Bolza – Italian Nobleman, Architect, Interior Designer
Trained as an architect in London, he and a team of 120 transform centuries-old stone ruins into exquisite dwellings at Castello di Reschio, a 3,000-acre private community in Umbria, Italy, on land originally purchased by his parents.Read More →
-
Cassone – the marriage chest
A cassone is a big decorated chest that was made in Italy between the 14th and 16th centuries. In 1472, a Florentine merchant married a young noblewoman named Vaggia Nerli. Cassoni were put on display in the most important and well-furnished room in the palace.Read More →
-
Arteluce Italian Lighting Firm (1939)
Arteluce Italian Lighting Firm it was one of the modest businesses that contributed to Italian design’s international success in the 1950s. READ MORERead More →
-
Antonia Astori (b.1940) co-founded Driade
Antonia Astori co-founded Driade with her brother Enrico and Adelaide Acerbi in 1968. She was able to create a unique network of furniture designers, galleries, and shops.Read More →
-
Agostino Lauro (1861 – 1924) Italian Designer
Agostino Lauro was an Italian designer and entrepreneur with a reputation for private commissions and public buildings.Read More →
-
Domus (1928) magazine devoted to design & architecture
Gio Ponti founded Domus in 1928, this journal devoted to architecture and design, originally named “L’ Arte della Casa,” has been at the forefront of design debate in Italy. In the 1930s, it was mainly concerned with a Novecento aesthetic, but it also paid attention to more radical tendencies, as Persico’s 1934 article “A New Start for…
-
Ennio Lucini (b.1934) Italian, packaging, product, graphic designer
He executed small objects for the home in ceramics and glass produced by Gabbianelli and metalware by Barazzoni. He designed the hemispherical Ponte di Brera drinking glasses (from 1965 by Ponte di Brera, 1968—75 by Gabbianelli) and 1968 Tummy range of stainless-steel cookware by Barazoni. Read More →
-
Harry Bertoia (1915 – 1978) Italian sculptor, furniture designer
Harry Bertoia was a sculptor, printmaker, jeweller, and furniture designer. He was born in San Lorenzo, Udine, and worked in the United States professionally. During World War Two he worked with Ray and Charles Eames on moulded-plywood technology. He worked primarily as a sculptor from the mid-1950s onwards. His sculpture was prominently featured in many…
-
Gio Ponti (1891-1979) Italian designer, writer and teacher
Gio Ponti was an influential writer, teacher, and practising architect who was one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century Italian design. In a long and illustrious career, he worked in a wide variety of design fields, from interiors to furniture and product design, understanding the value of craft traditions alongside creating a new aesthetic.Read…
-
Milan Triennial X – 1954 – Prefabrication Industrial Design
The Milan Triennial X was the Triennial in Milan sanctioned by the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE)on 5 November 1953. Its theme was Prefabrication – Industrial Design. It was held at the Palazzo dell’Arte and ran from 28 August 1954 to 22 November 1954.Read More →
-
Ico Parisi (1916 – 1996) Italian furniture designer
Ico Parisi was an Italian architect and designer of the modernist style who worked with Luisa Aiani and opened La Ruota in 1947. LEARN MORERead More →
-
Enzo Mari (1932 -2020) Italian modernist, industrial designer
Inventor of commonplace items whose radical politics were incorporated into their creations Enzo Mari (1932 – 2020) was an Italian modernist and furniture designer who lived from 1932 to 2020. TELL ME MORERead More →
-
Cassina Italian furniture manufacturer – Design Excellence
Its early pieces were based on historicist models from the 19th century. In the 1930s, it made armchairs and dining room sets for Milan’s Rinascente and Mobilificio di Fogliano. After World War II, Cassina changed the way it made and sold its products. The new generation of designers pushed the company to the forefront of…
-
Vico Magistretti (1920 – 2006) Italian architect/designer
In 1920 Vico Magistretti was born in Milan, Italy. First recognition of his work came in 1948, at the 8th Triennale. He started designing for Cassina in 1960, and from that date on his signature is to be found on many products.Read More →
-
Antonio Citterio ( b.1950 ) Italian furniture designer
Antonio Citterio is a leading Italian architect and interior designer, furniture and industrial designer. Citterio explored the possibilities of new materials and technologies rather than aligning himself with New Design’s more fashionable aesthetics.Read More →
-
Rodolfo Bonetto – Italian furniture & industrial designer
Rodolfo Bonetto (1929 – 1991) was Italian furniture and industrial designer. He began his design career at the Pininfarina automobile body design firm. In 1958, he founded his studio. Between 1963-69, was a member of ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale) advisory committee and participated in numerous other professional organisations. Read More →
-
Eugenio Quarti (1867 – 1931) Italian furniture designer
Eugenio Quarto (1867 – 1931) was an Italian furniture designer who was born near Bergamo. He was professionally based in Milan.Read More →
-
Studio Alchimia Italian design collaborative
Studio Alchimia Italian design collaborative located in Milan. Alessandro Guerriero (b. 1943), an architect, created Studio Alchimia in 1976 as a gallery to show experimental work that was not limited by industrial production. Read More →
-
Memphis Group – it has little to do with Tennessee
Memphis was a movement in interior design introduced at the annual Milan Furniture Fair in 1981. It consisted of a group led by Memphis guru Ettore Sottass of avant-garde Italian designers. With outrageous interpretations of traditional furnishings and accessories, Memphis shocked the traditionally quiet industry.Read More →
-
Pietro Chiesa (1892 – 1948) 🇮🇹 Italian furniture and glassware
He was an apprentice in the studio of Giovan Battista Gianotti, painter, furniture designer, and decorator; in 1921, opened Bot- tega di Pietro Chiesa, Milan; in 1927, (with Gio Ponti, Michele Marelli, Tomaso Buzzi, Emilio Lancia, and Paolo Venini) founded Il Labirinto, which produced high-quality glassware. Read More →
-
Michele De Lucchi (b.1951) Italian architect and designer
At the Universita di Firenze, he experimented with new forms of art and film. In 1973, he created the Cavart group alongside Piero Brombin, Pier Paola Bortolami, Boris Pastrovicchio, and Valerio Tridenti, which was active in Architettura Radicale, filmmaking, written works, and happenings. Read More →
-
Davide Mercatali (b.1948) Italian Designer
He worked independently as a graphic and product designer and illustrator for advertising agencies, publishers, and his clients; he worked for the Societa Donchi Formart, Milan. In 1978, with Paolo Pedrizzetti, he set up an industrial design studio where he initially designed materials and tiles. He worked on promotional accessories, point-of-sale displays in retail stores,…
-
Fabio Lenci (b.1935) Italian Designer
Fabio Lenci (1935 – ) is an Italian Designer. He received his design education in Rome. He began his professional career in 1966. He set up a shop for contemporary furniture in Rome. Read More →
-
Gruppo 9999 Italian Architecture and Design Group
Gruppo 9999 was a group of radical architects founded in Florence in 1968 by Giorgio Birelli, Carlo Caldini, Fabrizio Fiumi and Paolo Galli. Read More →
-
Giovanni Pintori (1912 – 1999) Italian Graphic Design
Giovanni Pintori (1912–1999) was an Italian graphic designer best known for his advertising work with Olivetti. His posters for the Lettera 22 and Olivetti logo are renowned for their use of geometric shapes and minimalist design. Read More →
-
Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) Father of Anti-Design
Although trained and active as an architect, Sottsass secured a permanent place in pop culture with his designs of everyday items. From 1957, he was a consultant designer at Olivetti, where he designed computers, adding machines, typewriters, and systems furniture. Read More →
-
Gianni Pasini (b.1937) Italian Designer – Electronic Machinery
Gianni Pasini was born in 1937 in Venice and professionally active in Milan. Some of his clients were Olivetti, Fabbrica Italiana, Magneti Marelli, and Crin hospital. He worked with Sandro Pasqui in a design studio from 1974 onwards.Read More →
-
Matteo Thun (b.1952) Italian ceramicist and designer
We reject design as an issue of taste! We follow a different strategy: Simplicity. We always search for the iconic form and create things that people can understand intuitively. We, Read More →
-
George Sowden – British/Italian Designer
George James Sowden is a British designer. He was born in Leeds and active Italy. Between 1960-64 and 1966-68, he studied architecture, Gloucester College of Arts. Read More →
-
Alessandro Mendini (b.1931) Italy’s famous design thinker
Alessandro Mendini (b.1931) played an important part in the development of Italian, Postmodern, and Radical design. He was co-founder of Studio Alchymia (with Alessandro and Adriana Guernero) in 1976. He was awarded several international prizes, including the Compasso d’Oro in 1979, 1981, and 2014. In 2011, he was awarded with the title Doctor Honoris Causa…
-
The Olivetti Lettera 22 Typewriter – Lightweight and Compact
Olivetti’s 1950 Olivetti 22 typewriter became the standard for portable typewriters. Marcello Nizzoli’s Typewriter won the Compasso d’Oro at the 10th Triennale in Rome in 1951. Ettore Sottsass would further develop this design in the 1964 Teckne 3.Read More →
-
Proust Armchair (1978) – Luxury Comes in All Forms
The Studio Alchimia in Milan was founded in 1976 and exhibited its first collection in 1979. Alessandro Mendini’s Proust armchair is one of the most unusual pieces from the Bau.Haus collection. It was made in a small number and individually painted to express the collective’s unease with mass production.Read More →
-
Alessi Italian Design sophistication in the everyday
Alessi is an Italian domestic metal products factory. You would think that Alessi Italy’s foremost design factory would have its headquarters in an imposing palazzo in Milan. Instead, the company is nestled near a small northern Italian lake called Lago d’Orta, a mountain range from its more famous big brother, Lago Maggiore.Read More →
-
Marcello Piacentini (1881 – 1961) Italy’s Fascist Architect
Marcello Piacentini (1881–1961) was an Italian urban theorist and one of the leading proponents of Italian Fascist architecture.Read More →
-
Livio Castiglioni (1911 – 1979) 🇮🇹 Italian industrial designer
In 1938, Castiglioni and his brother Pier Giacomo Castiglioni set up a studio with Luigi Caccia Dominioni, which closed in 1940. Read More →
-
The Moka Express (Design Classic) – simple ☕ coffee making machine
Designed and Made in Italy The Moka Express is a straightforward stovetop coffee maker. It unscrews in the centre, and water is poured into the bottom compartment. Read More →
-
Gino Valle (1923 – 2003) Italian architect, designer and town planner
Gino Valle (1923 – 2003) was. Italian architect, designer, and town planner. He was born in Udine. He studied at the Instituto Universitario di Architettura, Venice, to 1948. From 1951, he was at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Read More →
-
Lino Tagliapietra (b.1934) Italian Glassworker and Teacher
From 1956, Tagliapietra taught glassmaking with Archimede Seguso and Nane Ferro; 1966—68, designed glass for Venini, Murano; until 1968, for Murrina; from 1968, taught glassmaking at Haystack School and Pilchuck School, Stanwood, Washington. Read More →
-
Franco Deboni (b.1950) Italian architect and glassware designer
He worked for various firms in Italy and Yugoslavia. He received a patent for a bookcase-component system. Clients included Ferro & Lazzarini (glassware) and Italianline. He was best known for his lighting in glass and a mushroom-shaped table lamp in marble; became a member of ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale); was author of Venini…
-
Gillo Dorfles (1910 – 2018) Italian art critic, painter, and philosopher
Gillo Dorfles (1910 – 2018) was an Italian art critic, painter, and philosopher. He was born in Trieste and active in Milan.Read More →
-
Ambrogio Pozzi (b.1931) Italian Industrial Designer
He worked in the family firm Ceramica Franco Pozzi in Gallarate from 1951 and redesigned its traditional products in an award-winning Functional style. His widely published 1970 Compact stacking coffee service was designed for machine production in three sizes. He set up his design practice, where clients included Riedel, Rossi, Guzzini, Pierre Cardin, Rosenthal, Norex,…
-
Bruno Gregori (b.1954) Italian Furniture Designer
He was one of the founders of Alchimia in 1976. He was particularly active in its graphics program Read More →
-
Carlo Zen (1851 – 1918) Italian Cabinetmaker
From cl1880, Zen directed the most crucial furniture workshop in Milan. He was active in the stile floreale, continued after the 1902 Turin ‘Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte Decorativa Moderna’ to be known for his Art Nouveau and Symbolist motifs. He was not a designer himself but instead a factory owner and manager. From 1898, his firm…
-
Artemide Italian Lighting Company
Artemide Italian Lighting Company – Artemide is an Italian lighting and furniture manufacturer it is in located Pregnana Milanese. Read More →
-
Daniela Puppa (b.1947) eclectic Italian architect and designer
From 1977 to 1983, he worked as the chief editor of the design magazine Modo and as a consultant for the fashion magazine Donna. She designed interiors for Driade, Gianfranco Ferré, Montres and GFF Duty Free, Fontana Arte, Granciclismo sports machines, and Morassutti/Metropolis, as well as serving as an image and product consultant for the…
-
Roberto Lucci (b.1942) Italian Furniture Designer
He worked with Marco Zanuso for several years. In 1970, he and Paolo Orlandini collaborated independently for several clients, designing lamps and chairs produced by Artemide and Martinelli Luce.Read More →
-
Franco Albini (1905-1977) Italian Architect and Designer
Franco Albini’s design work encompassed a wide variety of disciplines, including furniture, interior, and product design, architecture, planning, and museum design. Read More →
-
Laura Griziotti (b.1942) Italian Architect & Designer
She began her professional career in 1967; became a member of ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale); 1967—74, she collaborated with architect and designer Cini Boeri. In 1974, she set up her studio in Milan; participated in the planning of the 1971 industrial design exhibition of ADI at the Design Centre, Brussels.Read More →
-
Barbini Glasswork Italian Glass Manufacturers
Alfredo Barbini, a descendant of glassmakers from the early 15th century, studied at Abate Zanetti (design school at Murano glass museum) from age ten; in 1930, began studying at Cristalleria, Murano, becoming a maestro; became primo maestro at Martinuzzi and Zecchin; worked with Cenedese in the late 1940sRead More →
-
XII Triennale 1960 – Home and School
It is referred to as the world’s most important cultural exhibit. The 1960 Triennale was the 12th to be held since 1930, and was created around the themes, “Home and School.” It was held during the middle to the “Cold War, and nations from both sides of the ‘Iron Curtain’ were exhibiting by invitation.Read More…
-
Aldo Cibic (b.1955) self-taught Italian architect and designer
Aldo Cibic is a self-taught architect, designer, researcher, environmentalist and humanist. He was born in Vicenza and professionally active in Milan.Read More →
-
Meta-Memphis Italian Furniture Manufacturing Firm
Meta-Memphis was an Italian furniture manufacturing firm.Read More →
-
Vittorio Introini (b.1935) Italian designer and architect
Vitorio Introini (b.1935) is an Italian architect. town planner, industrial designer and teacher. Education He studied architecture at the PolitecnicoRead More →
-
Nani Prina Italian Architect and Graphic Designer
Nani Prina is an Italian architect and industrial and graphic designer. He was born and professionally active in Milan. HeRead More →
-
Osvaldo Borsani (1911 – 1985) Italian furniture designer and architect
Osvaldo Borsani was born in Varedo Switzerland at the crossroads of craft and modern manufacturing. The son of a cabinetmaker, he trained as an architect in Milan in the 1930s, when the city was a centre of technological advancement and flourishing artistry, with the economic momentum to push both at speed.Read More →
-
“The Structures Tremble” Table 1979 by Ettore Sottsass
Studio Alchymia was founded in 1976 in Milan as a think tank for designers who rebelled against modernism’s functionalist approach. Their products were intended as prototypes or unique exhibits. A perfect example of Alchymia’s philosophy is The Structures Tremble designed by Ettore Sottsass. Read More →
-
Mario Bellini (b.1935) Italy’s most versatile designer
Mario Bellini is one of Italy’s most versatile designers. Trained as an architect, he is known for his furniture and industrial design work. The new forms he developed for contemporary technology and furniture objects inspired designers internationally.Read More →
-
Rodolfo Dordoni (b.1954) Italian Architect and Designer
he was artistic director of Cappellini International Interiors and in charge of corporate image and communications; from 1982, he was consultant designer for several firms on pavilions, shops, and exhibition stands.Read More →
-
Cristina Coral – Award-Winning Italian Photographer
She has lived her childhood in an artistic environment. She loves to explore the complex relationship between subject and environment. She has collaborated with a variety of magazines and brands.Read More →
-
Rinaldo Petrini ( b. 1931) Italian teacher and designer
1954, LDV Polytechnic, Alessandria, United Arab Emirates, diploma in architecture. 1968 – Master of Science, University of Tennessee. Doctor es Lettres, Paris, LaSorbonne, 1974. Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris, 1973–1974. Postgraduate architectural restoration, Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris, 1973–1974.Read More →
-
Pierluigi Cerri (b.1939) Italian Architect/Graphic/Exhibition Designer
He was active as an exhibition designer, designed 1978 ‘Peter Behrens und die AEG’ exhibition, Berlin; 1978 ‘Carrozzeria Italiana’ exhibition, Turin and Rome; 1981 ‘Identité Italienne,’ Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; 1983 ‘Alexander Calder’ exhibition, Turin; 1984 ‘Italian Design,’ Stuttgart and Tokyo; 1984 ‘Venti Progetti per il futuro del Lingotto,’ Turin; 1986 ‘Futurismo e Futurismi,’ Venice.…
-
Pier Luigi Nervi (1891 – 1971) – Italian Architect
After experience with a concrete contractor, he set up his firm in Bologna in 1923. His first structure was a 1927 cinema in Naples: His first important work was the 1930-32 Communal Stadium in Florence, widely published as an early example of Modern architecture. Read More →
-
Tecno Italian Furniture manufacturer
Tecno an innovative Italian furniture manufacturer was founded By Osvaldo Borsani and Fulgenzio Borsani. The operation had evolved from Atelier Varedo, the workshop of the father in Varedo, and the subsequent small firm Arredamento Borsani. Among other models, it produced Osvaldo Borsani. Among other models, it produced Osvaldo’ Borsani’s successful 1953 p40 chair and 1953…
-
Federico Carandini – Italian Industrial and furniture designer
Carandini is an experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the modern furniture industry. He is skilled in Strategy, Branding, Line Development, Design Management, Concept Development and Production Management. Strong arts and design professional with a BFA with university honours focused in Industrial Design from Carnegie Mellon University.Read More →
-
Carlo Guiliano (1831 – 1895) Italian Goldsmith and Jeweller
Carlo Guiliano was an Italian jeweller and goldsmith who was born in Naples and worked in London. In 1860, Guiliano settled in London and worked for Harry Emanuel. He collaborated with Castellani Italian Jewellers on at least one piece of jewellery. In the archaeological or Etruscan style, he was a talented jeweller. He developed his…
-
Andrea Branzi (b.1938) Italian furniture designer
His theoretical furniture is well-known. He formed Archizoom Associati, an avant-garde group in Florence, in 1966 (with Paolo Deganello and others) that brought the irony of 1960s Anti-Design to furniture design.Read More →
-
Elio Martinelli (1922 – 2004) Italian Lighting Designer
He and others founded a lighting company in 1942. In 1956, he founded the lighting firm Martinelli Luce in Lucca, designing plastics and metal and producing a perspex hanging lamp published in La Rivista dell’ Arredamento.Read More →
-
Carlo Bugatti (1855-1940) Italian designer and furniture maker
Carlo Bugatti was a leading figure in Italy’s design and decorative arts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bugatti is perhaps best known for his exotic, handmade furniture designs. Many of the 19th century’s progressive developments, notably the British Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau, influenced his work. Read More →
-
Vittorio Gregotti (1927- 2020 ) Italian architect, designer, design historian
Vittorio Gregotti (1927- 2020) was an important Italian architect, designer, design historian, theorist and critic, Gregotti was the editor of several leading Italian design journals. He graduated in architecture from Milan Polytechnic in 1952. He spent his lifetime working in the field as a practitioner, academic, and writer.Read More →
-
Bruno Gecchelin (b.1939) Italian Architect-Designer
Beginning his professional career in 1962, he worked for many major firms; designed lighting for O-Luce, furniture for Busnelli and Frau, refrigerators and gas stoves for Indesit, glassware for Venini, items for Skipper and Fratelli Guzzini, 1989 Atelier 75 range of four kitchen utensils, and 1987—88 Shuttle range of track lighting. Read More →
-
Dino Gavina (1922 – 2007) Italian Furniture Entrepreneur
He founded the firm Gavina in Foligno in 1960 as a subsidiary of his Dino Gavina company. Architect-designer Carlo Scarpa was appointed its titular president. The designs of Franco Albini and the earlier 1920s models of Marcel Breuer were reproduced. Breuer’s 1928 B32 chair, renamed Cesca (after Breuer’s daughter Francesca), became highly successful in mass production…
-
Ignazio Gardella (1905 – 1999) Italian Architect-Designer
Ignazio Gardella began working on architectural projects in Alessandria in 1929, including the Dispensario Antitubercolare (1929-1930), which is regarded as an example of Italian Rationalism, and the Laboratorio Provinciale di Igiene. He was laying the groundwork for his future career as an architect.Read More →
-
Aldo Rossi (1931 – 1997) Italian designer and architect
Aldo Rossi (1931 – 1997) was an Italian architect. He was born and professionally active in Milan. He is considered by many to be the greatest Italian architect of the second half of the 20th century. His life as an architect began with Gardella and Zanuso. Read More →
-
Mezzadro Chair – a nod to Italian Agriculture
Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni were not the first twentieth-century designers to consider the tractor seat in relation to sophisticated furniture production: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe used it for the Conchoidal chairs he conceived during the early 1940s. Read More →
-
Lino Sabattani (1925 – 2016) Italian Metal Smith
Sabbatini worked as a silversmith from a very early age. He learned metalworking techniques and became interested in shapes derived from natural materials. The Boule teapot and example of his early work was designed for T. Wolff in Germany.Read More →
-
Patrizia Ranzo Italian architect and designer
Patrizia Ranzo is an Italian architect and designer. She was born and active in Naples. She studied architecture in Naples to 1981. Read More →
-
Cini Boeri Italian Furniture & Industrial Designer
She worked as an interior and furniture designer in the studio of Marco Zanuso, Milan, 1952—63. In 1963, she set up her studio, specializing in civil and interior architecture and industrial design. She was associated with ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale). In 1979, she formed Cini Boeri Associati, Milan. Read More →
-
Paolo Venini (1895 – 1959) Italian Glassware Designer
Murano glassware was historically decorated with opulent rubies and gold and fanciful forms in vibrant colours. He hired freelance designers like Martinuzzi and Fulvio Bianconi regularly. Gio Ponti from 1927, Carlo Scarpa from 1932, Eugene Berman from 1951, Ken Scott from 1951, Franco Albini from 1954, and Massimo Vignelli from 1956 were the designers he…
-
Massimo Vignelli designer of subway maps to corporate logos
Massimo Vignelli and his wife Leila, an architect, were considered a husband and wife team credited with introducing restrained, European fashion and taste in America in the 1970s.Read More →
-
Adalberto Dal Lago (b.1937) – Italian Architect and designer
Adalberto Dal Lago is an Italian architect and designer: born and active Milan. He was an assistant, Facolta di Architettura, Politecnico di Milano from 1964-70 and subsequently chair of interior design and then of the elements of composition. He published books on design and Modern architecture. The European Council commissioned him and architect Marco Zanus…
-
Piero Polato (b.1936) Italian Industrial Designer
At ISIA, Urbano, Polato taught metallurgy. He wrote books about design education. Saiet, Avancart, Pellizzari, RAI, Televisione Svizzera Italiana, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Franco Rosso International, Fratelli Coppola, Furla, Mursia Editore, Robots, Zucchi, Il Bustese, and Muncherner Ruck were among his clientele. He was an ADI member (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale).Read More →
You may also be interested in;
Jacqueline Groag Czech textile designer – Encyclopedia of Design
Jacqueline Groag (1903 – 1986) was a Czech textile designer and ceramicist. Born in Prague she studied in Vienna at the Kunstgewerbeschule during the 1920s. In 1937 she moved to Paris where she designed dress prints for Jeanne Lanvin, Elsa Schiparelli and others. She escaped to Britian with her husband in 1939.
Olivetti design standard-bearer – Encyclopedia of Design
Olivetti is an Italian office machinery and furniture firm, located in Ivrea, Northern Italy. Olivetti Lexikon, Poster 1953 For a large part of its history, Olivetti has followed the highest aesthetic standards in its business activities: architecture, interiors, advertising, graphics, corporate branding, as well as its manufactured products-office and computer equipment and office furniture.