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designer: Abdi Abdelkader
Born in Algeri in 1955, Abdelkader graduated in Fine Arts in his city and from the National High School of Decorative Arts of Paris, city where he carried out a research on furniture. Professor of Fine Arts from 1982 to 1989, in the late '80s he went back to Paris where he still lives and works. The encounter with Alessandro Mendini at the beginning of the '90s was of great significance.He collaborated with various companies among which Glas, Forum Design and Bisazza for which he developed a collection of articles which are part of the Artinmosaico project.
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designer: Carlo Alessi
Born in Granerolo (Vb) in 1916. He studied design at the Istituto OMAR in Novara and in the early '30s, when still very young, he joined his father's business. Around the middle '30s he designed many Alessi objects among which "The Octagonal Tea and Coffee set", "Scalini", "The Cilindrico tea and coffee service" and "The Bombé tea and coffee service". Towards the end of the '40s he became the company's general manager. Today he is Alessi president.
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designer: Giovanni Alessi Anghini
Giovanni Alessi Anghini was born in Milan. He spent his early years as a student in German-speaking Switzerland, often travelling to the UK and the US. Having studied Anthropology and Sociology at Florence University, he moved to Milan to study Industrial Design at the European Design Institute. Here, he worked for two years as a designer in Stefano Giovannoni’s studio. He has been working freelance since 2006. He currently lives and works on Lake Maggiore.
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designer: Abi Alice
Abi Alice is a Sydney-based artist and designer whose practice spans many disciplines. Alice initially studied silver-smithing, creating tableware and jewellery, and later undertook her Masters pursuing photography and painting. Mathematics, form, colour geometry, folding and abstraction are frequently explored in Alice’s work. Currently her practice is predominantly focused on photography, painting and product design. She approaches her design work from an artistic point of view. In many instances her geometric paintings become the foundation for her product design.
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designer: William Alsop
Will Alsop, English architect and artist, was born at Northampton (1947), studied at the Architectural Association in London, worked with Cedric Price from 1973 to 1977, with Roderick Ham in 1977 and with Jan Störmer until early 2001, when he founded Alsop Architects, with branches in London, Rotterdam and Moscow. His most significant projects completed in these years were the Passenger & Ferry Terminal in Hamburg (1990); Barrage & Visitor Centre in Cardiff (1991); Le Grand Bleu Government Headquarters in Marseilles (1991); the Tottenham Hale and North Greenwich Jubilee Line Underground Stations in London (1991 and 1992); the stage at Groningen (1995), the Reuters headquarters in Moscow (1996); the State Archives in Hamburg (1998).
Alsop’s work and projects have received wide recognition—an honorary doctorate from Leicester University and an honorary fellowship from the Royal Society of British Sculptors—and awards that include the riba National Award for the Visitor’s Centre in Cardiff (1991) and the riba Civic and Community Architecture Award for Le Grand Bleu (1997) .
His professional work has always been integrated with teaching, first as tutor of sculpture at St Martin’s School of Art in London and then at various leading universities in Britain and abroad. Since 1997 he has taught at Technische Universität and directs its Hochbau institute in Vienna.
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designer: Francesca Amfitheatrof
Born in Tokyo in 1968, she studied at the Royal College of Art in London and specialized her research in the design of jewellery and silverware with training in metal casting and forging.
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designer: Ron Arad
Born in Tel Aviv in 1951, he lives and works in London. He has created world-famous pieces, from Rover Chair and Well Tempered Chair to the Bookworm bookcase. He designs for Kartell, Moroso , Driada, Fiam.
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designer: Wiel Arets
Wiel Arets, Dutch architect, born at Heerlen in 1955, graduated from the Technische Universiteit of Eindhoven in 1983. In 1984 he established Wiel Arets Architect & Associates in Heerlen. In 1996 the office was moved to Maastricht. He has held a number of academic positions: between 1986 and 1989 taught at the Architectural Academies of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, between 1988 and 1992 at the Architectural Association in London, between 1991 and 1994 as Visiting Professor at Columbia University and the Cooper Union in New York, at the Berlage Institute in Amsterdam, the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna and at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. In 2000 he held the Mies van der Rohe chair at the etsab in Barcelona. From 1995 to October 2002 he was dean of the Berlage Institute of Rotterdam and currently he holds the Berlage chair at the Technical University in Delft and is director of the Berlage Institute PhD program. His major works include the Academy for Arts and Architecture in Maastricht (1990-93) and the headquarters of the azl pension fund at Heerlen (1990-95).
Bettina Kraus, born 1970 in Nuremberg, has been a partner of Wiel Arets Architect & Associates since 2000. After training at the eth in Zurich and hdk in Berlin, she graduated in Architecture from the Technische Universität in Stuttgart in 1996.
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designer: Peter Arnell
New Yorker, Arnell earned his degree in architecture at Columbia University and his degree in design at Princeton University and works with architects Michael Graves, Frank Gehry, Aldo Rossi and James Sterling.
Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Arnell Group Brand Consulting, a brand ideation and experience marketing company specializing in integrated branding, strategy and communications solutions. He has published 18 books on contemporary architecture and three books on his photography.
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designer: Steven Blaess
Steven Blaess lived his childhood travelling with his family throughout Southern Australia. After graduating with a Bachelor of Design in Human Environments from the University of South Australia in 1994, he designed commercial offices interiors and furniture in Hong Kong and worked with some of Australia’s architecture, interior and graphic design companies. Since 1999, Steven has worked with manufacturing companies in Europe such as Artemide, Edra, iGuzzini lighting, Fratelli Guzzini. His works of architecture, interior and industrial design are published in international design publications and exhibited in Milan, Paris, Berlin, London, Tokyo, Melbourne and Sydney. Steven made final selection for his Torch Design Proposal for Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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designer: Mario Botta
Born in Ticino in 1943, he started work as an architect with Carlo Scarpa, Le Corbusier and Luis Kahn. From his first detached houses in Ticino to the Maison du Livre, de l'Image et du Son di Villeurbanne, right through to the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, his architectural language has been defined as "simple, archaic, eternal, made of naked evidence and intense sensations"(F. Chaslin).
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designer: Piero Bottoni
Born in Milan in 1903 he graduated from the Polytechnic of Milan. He was co-founder of the Milan group Miar. His objects were shown at the Exhibition of rational architecture of Rome in 1928 and 1931. He was an Italian delegate to Ciam and helped draft the "Athens Charter" in 1933. He participated in important architecture and urban competions and took part in all the events held at the Triennial of which he became Special Commissioner in 1945. He was one of the promoters of the magazine "Quadrante" and was one of the editors of the magazine "Metron". In the last few decades he has taught at University.
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designer: Lorenza Bozzoli
Born in Milan, where she studied at Brera academy, since 1980 she has been working as a free lance stylist for Fiorucci, Basile, Plein Sud, Sergio Rossi, Camper. Since 1996, with renewed passion, she has dedicated herself to Industrial design. Her works have been displayed in many exhibitions in Italy (Triennale) and abroad. She lives and works in Milan in her studio in Foro Bonaparte.
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designer: Marianne Brandt
German (1893-1983). She studied painting and sculpture in Weimar and was the only woman who took part in the Metallwerkstatt of the Bauhaus. Her objects are a splendid example of her research to simplify the industrial processes of spinning and printing.
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designer: Andrea Branzi
Born in Florence in 1938, architect and designer. Critic on magazines such as Domus, Interni, Casabella and Modo, he was one of the founders of the Domus Academy and is one of the members of the EEC Commission for the promotion of the European design. He has worked for Cassina, Vitra, Zanotta.
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designer: Clare Brass
She was born in London in 1962 and studied at the Middlesex Polytechnic. She lives and works in Milan where she collaborated with Andrea Branzi before setting up her own studio, Zoo design. She is one of the founders of the Doc group.
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designer: Luigi Caccia Dominioni
Born in Milan in 1913, he graduated in architecture from the Polytechnic of Milan in 1936 and in the same year he started his activity in Venice together with Livio and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, winning the competition held at the Vimercate School. In the field of Industrial design he was considered a "pioneer" when he presented at the VII Triennial in Milan a series of radios designed together with the Castiglioni brothers. In the '50s he set up, together with Gardella and Corradi, Azucena which is a collection of the furniture and objects he designed. The "Caccia" cutlery he designed are shown at the Museum of Modern Art of New York.
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designer: Fratelli Campana
Humberto Campana, lawyer and Fernando Campana, architect, have been working together in San Paolo since 1983 in the field of artistic design. They came into the limelight in 1989 with the furniture exhibition provocatively entitled "Gli inconfortabili" (The Inconsolable), a political manifesto rather than functional objects. Their radical point of view is strengthened by the use of poor materials and industrial rubbish. Hand-made products represent the possibility of social redemption in a poor country. Their intention is, however, to find a way for Brazilian design, avoiding European colonisation. In Italy, they participated in the "Viaggio in Italia" exhibition at Abitare il Tempo in Verona in 1994 and in 1995 at the exhibition organised at the Brazilian Consulate in Milan "Il Brasile fa anche design". In 1997 they designed lights for O Luce. Some of their pieces appear in the International Design Year Book of 1997, edited by Philippe Starck. In 1998 the Moma in New York dedicated the "Progetto 66" exhibition to them, coupled with Ingo Maurer.
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designer: Cecilia Cassina
Architect, born in Brescia in 1957. She graduated in Florence in 1983. Together with Ottorino Berselli she represents the Berselli Cassina Associati studio with seat in Brescia. Her work stretches into various directions: restructuring, renovation, urban works, new buildings and commercial areas. They develop projects on furnishing and design and design houseware in cooperation with other companies.They have earned various acknowledgements in the mentioned fields and have presented many publications and taken part in national and international exhibitions.
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designer: Achille Castiglioni
Born in Milan in 1918, he started work as an architect and designer with his brothers Livio and Pier Giacomo in 1938. One of the great masters of Italian design, he was a founding member of ADI in the fifties. The long list of awards he has received include eight Compassi d'Oro. His activity as a designer is an unmistakable blend of simplicity, irony and fun and its shows his close interest in the way objects are used, in the potential offered by technology and in the use of new materials. He dies in 2002.
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designer: Livio Castiglioni
Born in Milan in 1911. He graduated in architecture from the Polytechnic of Milan in 1936. He started working with his brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo immediately after the war focussing their attention mainly on city planning, architecture and particularly on design. All the experiments and studies on design were possible thanks to the many exhibitions they designed and where Livio worked as light and sound technician.
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designer: Pier Giacomo Castiglioni
Born in Milan in 1913. He graduated in architecture from the Polytechnic of Milan where he later would teach architectural composition. He started working with his brothers Achille and Livio immediately after the war focussing their attention mainly on city planning, architecture and particularly on design. Together with Achille, he received various acknowledgements such as the permanent exhibition of six of their works at the Museum of Modern Art of New York and won five editions of the Compasso d'Oro award.
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designer: Gary Chang
Born in Hong Kong in 1962, Gary Chang graduated in architecture in 1987. He was director of edge 1994-98, then set-up his own office edge (hk) ltd 1998. Assistant Professor in Hong Kong University from 1995-2000, he lectured at the Technische Universiteit in Delft (1997), the Royal College of Art in London (1999) and at the Polytechnics in Milan and Turin, Italy (2002). Panel-speaker at various architectural conferences-workshops. His projects were displayed at Archilab 2001 in Orléans, France (2000), the 7th (2000) and 8th (2002) International Biennale of Architecture in Venice and had his first solo exhibition, Play Lab, at the Arts Centre in Hong Kong (2000). He has won representative awards internationally and regionally: the 22nd Triennale of Milan (1985), 25th Central Glass Competition in Tokyo (1990), the Asia-Pacific Interior Design Awards in Hong Kong (1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001), President Prize of the Institute of Architects Annual Awards in Hong Kong (1996), the Grohe Design Award in Singapore (1997), and the Young Architect Award in Hong Kong (1996). Recent projects include the Cannes Garden Clubhouse at Guangzhou (2002) and a weekend house in the Commune by the Great Wall, Beijing (2001-02), in China, and Kitagata Housing Phase II at Gifu, Japan (2001-02).
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designer: Pierre Charpin
Pierre Charpin was born in 1962 in Saint-Mandé (Paris). An artist by education, his devotion to the design of furniture and objects dates from the beginning of the 1990’s. His research appears in the projects which he develops for the Design Gallery Milano and the Kreo Gallery in Paris. In tandem with his more experimental projects his work is recognized by various companies of international renown such as Post Design, Zanotta, Montina, Venini, La Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres. In 2004 he wins a competition for the design of a water carafe for the Société Anonyme de Gestion des Eaux de Paris (Paris Waterworks), the carafe “Eau de Paris”; the “Triplo“ vase produced by Venini appears in the selection of the Compasso d' Oro 2005. The Paris Furniture Fair elects him creator of the year 2005. He has several personal shows and several of his pieces are included in the collections of the FNAC (National Foundation for Contemporary Art) of the Georges Pompidou center and of the Decorative Arts Museum of Paris.
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designer: Gabriele Chiave
Gabriele Chiave was born in Metz. Two years later he moved with his family, spending 4 years in Dakar, 5 in Caracas, 1 in Buenos Aires, 3 in Rome (where he completed his higher secondary education) and then 8 years in Milan where he studied Industrial Design at IED and began working with a number of design studios, including Syn design, Fabio Rotella, and Lorenza Bozzoli. He participated and exhibited in projects such as Emergency, Rotari, Epson, and Toshiba.
From 2004 to 2006 he worked with Marc Sadler at the Ideal Standard European research centre, and he worked with many other companies. In the same period he was involved in and provided assistance for 6 lpwk/alessi workshops, which began in 2003 and are still being run.
He has worked freelance for clients and customers in the design field since 2006.
He has lived in Amsterdam since early 2007.
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designer: David Chipperfield
David Chipperfield received his Diploma from the Architectural Association in London and from 1978 - 84 worked at the practices of Douglas Stephen, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster. He established his own architectural practice in London in 1984 and in 1987 the office in Berlin was established. The practice currently has 130 staff and has won over 20 national and international competitions as well as many international awards and citations for design excellence, including RIBA, RFAC & AIA.
David Chipperfield has taught architecture in Europe and the United States and has lectured extensively on the work of the practice. He has been Professor of Architecture in the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Stuttgart, Germany, visiting Professor of Architecture at Harvard University, USA, University of Graz, Austria, University of Naples, Italy, Royal College of Art, London, École Polytechnique, Lausanne, Switzerland, Art Institute Chicago, USA and Naples School of Architecture, Italy. In 2001 David Chipperfield held the Mies van der Rohe Chair at the Escola Tècnica. He is currently honorary professor at the University of the Arts London and was visiting professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, USA in early 2006.
In 1993 he was awarded the Andrea Palladio Prize and in 1999 the Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal. In 2004 David Chipperfield was made an Honorary Member of the Florence Academy of Art and appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to architecture.
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designer: Biagio Cisotti
Born in Puglia in 1955. He works and lives in Florence where he graduated in Architecture in 1980. Since 1989 he has taught Technology of Production at the I.S.I.A. (Superior Institute for the Artistical Industries) in Florence. Together with a group of architects from Florence he founded MADE in 1990 which is a cultural association and a display area promoting initiatives of architecture and design. He is in charge of the artistic department of various companies and his objects are shown in many national and international exhibitions.
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designer: Lluìs Clotet
Born in Barcelona in 1941, he studied at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura. His works include the Banco de Espana in Gerona and the accommodation facilities in the Barcelona Olympic village.
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designer: Nigel Coates
“Because architecture is sensuous, the more of it there is in products - says Coates - the better.” Typically his objects have body-like curves, and playful character. His architecture has characteristic fluidity too, and seems inclined to muscle-in on the city. Architect, designer and commentator Coates is one of those rare talents whose vision relies on the overlap between professional fields. He considers the complexity and confusion of cities as fundamental to their attraction, an attitude which translates into his iconoclastic buildings in Japan and the UK, such as the Wall in Tokyo, the Pop Museum in Sheffield, and the Body Zone in the Millennium Dome. In 1998 he designed his proto-living unit, the Oyster House, which included a raft of objects including the OXO sofa system and the first of his vase designs in glass. His book ‘Guide to Ecstacity’, 2003 is published by Laurence King.
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designer: Susan Cohn
Influential Australian silversmith, designer of small objects and jewels she directly produces in her small and yet efficient laboratory in Melbourne in small series. Susan Cohn (Sydney, 1952) is also an active lecturer in international design schools.
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designer: Riccardo Dalisi
Architect, born in Potenza in 1931 he teaches architectural planning, Industrial design and is the director of the Institute for Industrial Design at the University of Neaples, Federico II. He was among the founders of the Global Tool group and of an experimental school of craftsmanship called Arti minime.In 1975 he started working as designer and collaborated with companies such as Baleri and Zanotta. He was awarded the Compasso d'Oro prize in 1981. He has published several books among which, L'Architettura della imprevedibilità (1970), La caffettiera di Pulcinella (1987), Progettare senza pensare (1998).
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designer: Denton Corker Marshall
The Australian Denton Corker Marshall Pty ltd firm was founded in 1972 in Melbourne by Barrie Marshall, John Denton and Bill Corker, who had all attended the University of Melbourne’s School of Architecture. The firm now has branches in Sydney, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Singapore,
Ho Chi Minh City, London and Warsaw, with a total staff of over 160. The firm is active in architecture, urban planning, interior and landscape design. Its clients include major corporations and government bodies in Australia and abroad. The practice has worked on projects on the full range of scales, from private homes to urban enhancement projects; it has achieved wide recognition and won a number of awards. Among its most significant projects are the Australian embassies in Tokyo and Beijing, the First Government House in Sydney (a 64-storey tower and the Sydney Museum), the Exhibition Centre and the Museum of Victoria in Melbourne. In 1996 John Denton, Bill Corker and Barrie Marshall were awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.
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designer: Mattia Di Rosa
Born at Carrara in 1969, artist. His obsessive experimental approach focuses on his fascination with errors and chance, his preferred points of reference in his creative process. He has been working with Alessi since 1992.
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designer: Christopher Dresser
English (1834-1904). Renowned botanist and scholar of decorative arts, he probably was the first industrial designer in the modern sense of the term. He designed crafted objects showing a great expressive daring but also a great number of houseware products (from wallpaper to furniture, from metal objects to ceramics, to glass, to fabrics).
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designer: Dezsö Ekler
Dezsö Ekler, architect, was born at Szombathely, Hungary, in 1953. After graduating, he studied urban sociology and worked for some years with his teacher and mentor Imre Makovecz. In 1991 he established his own practice. He has lectured at the Hungarian Academy of Applied Arts and the Department of Urban Building and History of Architecture of the Budapest University of Technology. A member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts since 2000, he has won recognition both in Hungary and abroad, with awards such as the Premio Piranesi (1989), the Premio Andrea Palladio (1991), and the ybl Prize (1994). He has been a speaker at numerous architectural conventions in Hungary and abroad and displayed his work in collective exhibitions and one-man shows.
His best-known and most significant works included the Harangodi Folk Art Camp at Nagykálló (1986-91); the premises of the University of Agriculture at Kaposvár (1988); the wineries of Disznókö Rt. (1993-95) and Neszmély Rt. (1994); an office building at Hneger utca, Budapest (1999); an office building at Budaörs, Terrapark (2000-01); the College Central Library of Szombathely (2001); Primary School at Pécel (2002).
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designer: Khodi Feiz
Born in Theran in 1963, he did his apprenticeship as an interior designer in Philips, he now lives and works in Amsterdam where with his wife Anneko has fouded the Feiz Design Studio.
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designer: Norman Foster
Born in 1953, Sir Norman Foster is the English creator of many of the great architectural projects of the last two decades: the new Reichstag di Berlin, the Great Court of the British Museum, Stansted airport and the Oresund Bridge.
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designer: Massimiliano Fuksas
Massimiliano Fuksas was born in Rome in 1944, where he graduated in architecture from La Sapienza University in 1969. In 1967 he opened a practice in Rome, followed in 1989 and 1993 by firms in Paris and Vienna. He now lives and works shuttling between Rome and Paris. He has taught in numerous universities, including the Staadtliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Stuttgart, the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris, the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna, Columbia University in New York, and La Sapienza University in Rome. In 1998 he won the Vitruvio International a la Trayectoria Award in Buenos Aires for his career. In 1999 he received the Grand Prix d’Architecture Française and the following year was named Accademico Nazionale di San Luca and Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la République Française. In 2002 he was awarded the aia’s Honorary Fellowship. In 1998-2000 he was director of the 7th International Biennale of Architecture in Venice exhibition: Less Aesthetics, More Ethics. Since January 2000 he has written the architectural column in L'Espresso that was founded by Bruno Zevi. His professional practice centers principally on the creation of public works, including university buildings and major urban complexes.
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designer: Future Systems
The London Future Systems firm was founded in 1979 by Jan Kaplicky, born in Czechoslovakia in 1937 and graduated from the College of Applied Arts and Architecture in Prague in 1962. From 1968 Kaplicky worked in London with Denys Lasdun, Piano & Rogers, Spencer & Webster and Norman Foster. After professional practice with Alsop & Lyall, yrm Architects and Richard Rogers & Partners, in 1989, he opened his own practice in partnership with Amanda Levete, who was born at Bridgend, Britain, in 1955, and qualified at the Architectural Association in London in 1982.
Future Systems works in many parts of the world on architectural projects, urban furniture, interiors, industrial design and visual communication. Their work is distinctively innovative in its handling of image and its functional and technological research.
Their major projects and completed works include: the Visitors’ Centre at Stonehenge, England (1992); Hauer-King House in London (1994); the Natwest Media Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London (1994-99), which won the riba Stirling Prize (2000), the British Construction Award (1999) and the Aluminium Immagination Award (1999); the floating footbridge linking Canary Wharf and the West India Quay in London (1994-99); the installations for the showrooms of the international fashion chain Comme des Garçons in New York, Tokyo and Paris.
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designer: Frank Gehry
Born in 1930, he studied architecture at the University of Southern California and studied City Planning at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard. He developed projects of private and public city planning in America, Japan. In Europe, he has recently been awarded the Pritsker Architecture Prize in 1989 and the Wolf Prize in Art in 1992. His projects have been published all over the world. The most important retrospective, "The Architecture of Frank O. Gehry" has been organized by the Walker Art Center in 1986 and has travelled the major American museums.
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designer: Massimo Giacon
Born in Padua, Italy, in 1961, comic-strip artist and illustrator, a leading light in the renewal of Italian comic, he divides his time as a graphic artist, designer, musician and artist.
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designer: Stefano Giovannoni
Born in La Spezia in 1954, architect and designer. His explosive talent, able to embody the complex system of "affective codes" in his projects, is winning him the title of best "Super & Popular" designer of the years 2000.
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designer: Michael Graves
Born in Indianapolis, he teaches architecture in Princeton since 1962. His architectural works include the Portland Building and the Humana Building, the extension of the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Newark Museum. He created the best-selling 9093 kettle for Alessi
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designer: Martí Guixé
Born in 1964. Formed in Barcelona and Milan as an interior and industrial designer. In 1994, periodically working as a design advisor in Seoul and living in Berlin, he formulated a new way to understand the culture of products. Guixé started to exhibit his work in 1997, work that characterizes on the search for new product systems, the introduction of design in food ambits and presentation through performance. His non-conventional gaze provides brilliant and simple ideas of a curious seriousness. He is based in Barcelona and Berlin and work as designer for companies such Authentics, B-sign, Camper, Cha-cha, Chupa-Chups, Desigual, Droog Design, Essencial mediterraneo, Imaginarium, Isee2, Magis, Nani Marquina, Saporiti, Very Lustre. Recent publications: Marti Guixé 1:1, and Martí Guixé Cook book. Exhibitions at MoMA (New York), MuDAC (Lausanne), MACBA (Barcelona) and Centre Pompidou (Paris).
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designer: Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid (Bagdad 1950) studied at the Architectural Association in London, where she qualified in 1977. She joined the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, with Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis, returned to lecture at the Architectural Association and then in other universities in Europe and the United States. Currently she teaches at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, and is Visiting Professor at Yale University. She began her professional career in 1979. In 1993 she was responsible for the Vitra Fire Station at Weil am Rhein, Germany, and a residential building for the iba in Berlin. Her major completed projects include the lf one pavilion at Weil am Rhein (1993-99); the Mind Zone at Millennium Dome in London (1997-99); a tram station and car park in Strasbourg (2001) and a ski jump in Innsbruck (2002). Her projects now under way include: the Contemporary Arts Centers in Rome and Cincinnati; a Science Centre in Wolfsburg, Germany; a ferry terminal at Salerno, Italy; a public square and multiplex cinema in Barcelona; the bmw Works in Leipzig; the extension to the Ordrupgaard Museum in Copenaghen and a bridge in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Zaha Hadid is also well known as a painter and designer: her work has been shown in various exhibitions in the United States, Japan, Britain and Germany.
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designer: Paul Van Iersel Harry
Born in Breda in 1966. He studied design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven and graduated in 1992. He attended the Domus Academy in Milan where he met Camila Vega with whom he set up Harry & Camila studio in 1998.
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designer: Harry & Camila
The studio was founded in 1998, was born of the meeting between Harry Van Iersel e Camila Vega in 1994 at the Domus Academy. After a brilliant debut at the 1999 Milan Furniture Exposition, Ingo Maurer chose their textile designs for the International Design Yearbook no. 15. Paola Navone invited them to be part of the Pitti Home Image 2000 exhibition and Mercedes Benz is studying the use of their fabrics in a design for automobile interiors. They show their works in Italy and abroad and design for companies, including Idee and Sputnik (Japan), Abet, BRF, Fontana Arte and Vogue Pelle.
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designer: Eija Helander
Designer, born in Lathi (Finland) in 1944.
After her studies, Eija embarked on a long collaboration with Marimekko, first managing its visual merchandising and later entirely coordinating its corporate image throughout Scandinavia.
She has participated in developing the settings for advertising shoots and short films, and has collaborated in the capacity of consultant with many interior décor magazines.
In 1969 she moved to Italy to work in the field of Industrial Design, creating projects for companies such as Fivep, Inda and Alessi.
In particular, with Alessi she worked with architect Franco Sargiani on the company's coordinated image and packaging.
She currently runs her own business, covering a comprehensive range of services, from interior design to advertising graphics, setting up stands and creating corporate logos.
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designer: Josef Hoffmann
Prominent member of the Viennese Secession, he was born in Pirnitz-Mähren in 1870. At the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, he studied under Karl Hasenauer and Otto Wagner and until 1937 he held a course in architecture at the Kunstgewerbeschule of the Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie. In 1903, together with Kolo Moser he founded the Wiener Werkstätte. He developed his simple geometric shapes starting from the curvilinear language of the European Art Nouveau. One of his most important works was the Stoclet Palace in Brussels (1905-1911). He developed the principles of the total work of art. He died in 1956.
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designer: Toyo Ito
Toyo Ito was born in 1941. He graduated in architecture from Tokyo University in 1965. In 1965-69 he worked for the firm run by Kiyonori Kikutake, a member of the Metabolism group. In 1971 he opened his own practice in Tokyo, called, until 1979, Urban Robot (urbot) and subsequently Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects.
An Honorary Professor of the University of North London, he has taught at Columbia University in New York (1991-92 and 1994-95), at the Berlage Institute in Amsterdam (1992) and at Harvard University (1994-95 and 1995-96).
His work has been shown at numerous personal and collective exhibitions and he has participated in various major international competitions, including those for the Maison de la Culture du Japon in Paris (1990), for the Library of the University of Paris (1992), the extension to the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1997) and the Centro per le Arti Contemporanee in Rome (1999).
Awards won include: the prize of the Institute of Japanese Architecture for the Silver Hut (1986); the City of Kumamoto Award for the Yatsushiro Museum (1991) and the Yatsushiro Fire Station (1996); the Interarch Award (1997) and the Gold Medal of the Union of Architects of Bulgaria (1997); the Arnold W. Brunner Award presented by the American Academy of Fine Arts (2000); the World Architecture Award East Asia for the Sendai Mediathèque (2002). Major recent works include: the Health Future installation at the Expo 2000 in Hanover; the Sendai Mediathèque (1997-2001); an aluminium pavilion in Bruges, Belgium (2000-02). Projects now under way include: the Cognacq-Jay Hospital in Paris; the M-Hall at Matsumoto, Nagano; the Mahler 4 office tower in Amsterdam.
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designer: Marcello Jori
Marcello Jori was born in Merano on 12 December 1951. He currently lives and works in Bologna. Having obtained his degree from DAMS (Drama, Art and Music Studies, Bologna), in 1977 Jori embarked on his career as an artist, soon exhibiting in national and foreign galleries and museums. In the mid-seventies, Jori took his first tentative steps in certain conceptual streams, from which he soon moved away and indeed openly went against their colder and most austere aspects, in an attempt to infuse art with a new lease of life. This he did with a series of photographic works, in which he reinterprets a number of classical masterpieces in a modern key. In this way, art is brought back to a human dimension; the artist "gives body" to the paintings, and takes possession of them so as to transform them into something true. Thus, an abstract painting depicting sunset is exposed to the lights and colours of a real sunset (“Tramonto sul mare sul mare a tramonto” - Sunset over the sea over the sea at sunset, 1976). In 1979, Jori painted himself on top of a ladder painting the fall of the angel, in contact with the heavens, which marked a turning point in his artistic career. This painting displays a new expressive energy that featured in his works over the entire following decade. It was during this phase that painting became central to his creative evolution. These were the years of the "Scritture" (Inscriptions), vertical and fluctuating words suspended mid air between the real and the artist’s mental idea of space. These words were then caged in multicoloured "Teatrini" (Theatres), extravagant examples of architecture in movement that were the forerunners of the following "Cristalli" (Crystals) and "Gioie" (Jewels) series, enchanted and kaleidoscopic geometric patterns.
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designer: Patrick Jouin
Patrick Jouin was born in Nantes, France, in 1967. He got his diploma “ENSCI-les Ateliers”, Ecole nationale supérieure de création industrielle, in 1992 in Paris. Designer for the “Compagnie des Wagons-lits” and for “tim thom”, THOMSON multimedia, with the Art Direction of Philippe Starck, he collaborated with Philippe Starck’s studio in Paris from 1995 to 1999. Designer for Thomson, Ligne Roset, Renault, Cassina, Murano, Kartell, he was awarded with the “Designer of the year” prize in 2003 for “Maison & Objet”. He collabotated with Alain Ducasse designing many restaurants such as the Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée, Be boulangerie-epicerie, in Paris, and Mix New York restaurant.
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designer: Mika H.J. Kim
Born in Seoul, Korea, in 1972, he graduated with Bachelor's degree in Visual and Industrial Design at the Seoul National University, and he had a Master's degree in Industrial and Spatial Design. Chief Designer for the Design Studio Mika & Heni, Budapest. He has participated in several design projects and exhibitions as a designer and adviser and winner of the Special Prize, Korean Industrial Design Exhibition 2001, hosted by KIDP, Seoul.
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designer: King-Kong
From 1985 up to 1989, this has been the name adopted by the architects Stefano Giovannoni and Guido Venturini, creators of an elementary, playful cartoon language which made its mark on design in the early 90s.
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designer: Tom Kovac
Tom Kovac, of Slovene descent, is an Adjunct Professor of Architecture at rmit University in Melbourne, where he received a Bachelor of Architecture and Masters Degree. Kovac has taught, lectured and exhibited in Europe, Japan and the United States. Founded in 1992, Tom Kovac Architecture is a research, architecture and design office producing projects that combine the use of digital tools and manufacturing technologies for the conception and realisation of projects on varying scales. In 2002 Kovac participated in the 8th International Biennale of Architecture in Venice, with two projects for the United States Pavilion, World Trade Center, Past Present & Future and the Alessi City of Towers exhibition. Most recently Kovac has designed a proposal for the World Trade Centre in New York (2002), the digital environment The Light of Room for the theatre group Company in Space at the Melbourne Museum during the Melbourne Festival (2002) and the most recently completed the Urban Attitude project on Federation Square in Melbourne (2002).
Current projects include the Digital Design Laboratory for the rmit University, a Virtual Learning Interactive Platform, an Alessi space to be built and exhibited in the Non Standard Architecture exhibition at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, collaboration on a line of international generic hyper sports clubs, and a series of international hotels. Since 2001 Kovac has also been Creative Design Director of Curvedigital, a joint project between rmit University and Melbourne Museum.
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designer: Defne Koz
Born at Ankara in 1964. Her design style shows clear indications of the contemporary Milan school (a graduate and later teacher at the Domus Academy, Koz worked with Sottsass in the 1990s), mixed with simple but evocative hints of the Middle East.
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designer: Kristiina Lassus
Born at Helsinky in 1966, she studied at the University of Industrial Arts, at the Polytechnic and at the Konstfack Academy of Industrial Arts in Stockholm. She worked as an internal architect, designer and design manager in Helsinki, Brisbane and Milan. She has lived in Italy since 1997 and now works as a designer and advisor.
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designer: Piero Lissoni
Piero Lissoni (Seregno 1956) graduated in architecture in Milan in 1985. In 1986 he opened his industrial design, interior architecture and graphic design studio. He has worked for many Italian design houses, not only in the field of product design but also of coordinated image, communication campaigns and the creation of show rooms. He has recently branched out into architecture, with numerous projects for private homes and hotels in Italy and abroad, for example in Venice (Monaco & Grand Canal), Zurich (Al Porto), Istanbul (Bentley design hotel) and Bangkok.
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designer: Greg Lynn-FORM
Greg Lynn is the principal of Greg Lynn form in Los Angeles California. He graduated with degrees in Philosophy and Environmental Design, from the Miami University of Ohio, in 1986 and specialized in architecture at Princeton University in 1988. He has held various university positions in the United States and Europe. Currently he teaches at the University for Applied Arts in Vienna, is Davenport Visiting Professor at Yale University, a Studio Professor at ucla University and a Visiting Professor at Columbia University. His completed projects include the Korean Presbyterian Church of Sunnyside in Queens, New York (1995-99). Projects close to completion include: an outdoor museum for the Ark of the World Foundation in San Juan, Costa Rica, and a public housing project of 500 units in Bijlmermeer, Amsterdam. Recently he participated with the United Architect teams, in partnership with five other firms, in the competition for the World Trade Centre site in New York. He has received numerous awards and had exhibitions of both art and architecture at galleries and museums, including the International Biennale of Architecture in Venice 2000, where his work was present in the pavilions of the United States, Austria and Italy. In February 2003 he curated the Intricacy exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. His essays and books include: Animate Form, Princeton Architectural Press, Princeton 1998; Folds, Bodies and Blobs: Collected Essays, Encore Books by Architects, Brussell 1998; Architectural Laboratories: Greg Lynn and Hani Rashid, nai Publishers, Rotterdam 2002; Embryological House, forthcoming with Princeton Architectural Press.
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designer: Doriana O. Mandrelli
Doriana O. Mandrelli was born in Rome, where she graduated in History of Art from La Sapienza University in 1979. At the same University, she attended the School of Architecture, taught contemporary architecture and was a member of the board of In/arch (Istituto Nazionale di Architettura). She is director’s assistance at the 7th International Biennale of Architecture in Venice and curator of some special sections of the exhibition. In 2002 she was named Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la République Française. Her partnership with Massimiliano Fuksas dates from 1985. She directs the Fuksas Design Section. Her work is characterised by continuous research into new materials and new techniques of manufacturing.
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designer: Enzo Mari
He started his activity with studies on visual perception and then focused his attention on games for children, graphics, design and architecture: different directions sharing a common idea that is the reflection on the meaning of shape and project. He was consultant for Arredo Urbano of the Milan town hall and president of the Association for Industrial Design (1976-1979). He was awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1967, 1979, 1987 and in 2001 for his table "Tavolo legato". In 2001 he published the book "Progetto e passione" (Project and passion) which analyses the design on a wider cultural horizon. He collaborates with design companies such as Artemide, Castelli, Danese, Driade, Gabbianelli, Interflex, Lema, Magis, Zanotta.
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designer: Alberto Meda
Born in Lenno Tremezzina in the province of Como in 1945, he graduated in mechanical engineering at the Milan Polytechnic in 1969. After being the technical director of Kartell in the seventies, he dedicated himself to design, applying his experience in polyurethane resins and new materials in general. In this period he won two Compasso d'Oro awards.
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designer: Richard Meier
Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1934, Richard Meier studied architecture at the Cornell University and set up his own studio in New York in 1963. Among his most famous projects, worthy of note are the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the High Museum in Atlanta; the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Barcellona and the Atheneum in New Harmony, Indiana. He was awarded the Pritzker Prize for architecture ( 1984), the Royal Golden Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1989), Commander of Arts and Literature of the French Government (1992), the Imperial Praemium of the Japanese Government (1997) and AIA golden medal (American Institute of Architects). Meier has also obtained many honorary degrees.
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designer: Alessandro Mendini
Born in Milan in 1931, former director of Casabella, Modo and Domus, winner of a Compasso d’Oro and designer of the Groninger Museum in Groningen, the Casino in Arosa, the Forum in Omegna, he is a designer, architect and image consultant for Philips, Swarovski, Swatch, and Bisazza.
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designer: Miriam Mirri
She was born in Bologna in 1964, lives and works in Milan. She graduated at the Superior School for Anotomic Design and studied communication and design at the Università del Progetto in Reggio Emilia. She worked in London with Nigel Coates and has been assistant to Stefano Giovannoni for many years. She designs objects for companies such as Mandarina Duck, Mitsubishi, United Pets. She holds design courses at the Università del Progetto in Reggio Emilia.
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designer: Massimo Morozzi
Born in Florence in 1941, architect and designer. He lives and works in Milan. He is a member of the Archizoom group, co-ordinator of the Montefibre Design Centre, partner in the CDM Group (Consulenti Design Milano). Functional innovation and strong patterns are the reference points for his most recent creations with Cassina, Driade, Fiam. He has held lectures and seminars in Amsterdam, San Paolo, Melburne, Tokyo and at the Domus Academy and the European Design Institute of Milan.
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designer: Morphosis
The Morphosis studio was founded by Thom Mayne and Michele Rotondi in Santa Monica, California, in 1975. Since 1975 the practice has been run by Mayne alone.
Thom Mayne was borne in Connecticut in 1944. He received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Southern California in 1968 and his Master of Architecture from Harvard University in 1978. He was a founder of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (sci-Arc) and has held teaching positions at Columbia, Harvard (Elliot Noyes chair, 1998) and Yale Universities (Eliel Saarinen chair, 1991), the Berlage Institute in the Netherlands and the Bartlett School of Architecture in London. Currently, he holds a tenured faculty position at the ucla School of Arts and Architecture in Los Angeles. Honors received include the Prize Fellowship from the American Academy of Design in Rome (1987), elect member from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1992), the Gold Medal of aia in Los Angeles (2000).
With Morphosis, Mayne has won numerous architectural prizes, including 20 Progressive Architecture Awards and 43 aia Awards. Under his guidance, the firm has partecipated in individual and collective exhibitions in many countries around the world. Of particular note were those at the Contemporary Art Centre in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Walker Art Institute in Minneapolis, the Ministerio de Formento in Madrid, 1998, the great retrospective organized in 1999 at the Netherlands Architectural Institute (nai) and the last International Biennale of Architecture in Venice, 2002.
Buildings and projects by Morphosis have been published in the leading international specialist press and in 21 monographic volumes, the most recent published by Phaidon in 2002.
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designer: Jasper Morrison
Born in London in 1959, he studied design at Royal College of Art and at the HdK in Berlin. Editor of the Design Year Book 1999 with a passion for the history of design, Morrison designs for Cappellini, Vitra, Magis, Flos, Rosenthal and Sony.
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designer: MVRDV
MVRDV was founded in Rotterdam in 1991, by Winy Maas (Schijndel 1959), Jacob van Rijs (Amsterdam 1964) and Nathalie de Vries (Appingedam 1965), all three graduates from the Technische Universiteit in Delft, after they had won first prize in the Europan competition for Berlin. The firm, which now has over fifty staff, conducts research into urban “density” and is active in architecture, planning and landscape design in the Netherlands and abroad. mvrdv’s work ranges from the design of buildings of various types and on various scales to graphics for publishing, the completion of temporary installations and stands for exhibitions and other events. The group has won numerous prizes and competitions internationally. Their completed projects include the Dutch pavilion for the Expo 2000 in Hanover (1997-2000); the tertiary Flight Forum complex at Eindhoven Airport (1998-); the Hageneiland district at Ypenburg, The Hague (1997-2001); two detached houses in the Borneo-Sporenburg district (1996-2000) and the Thonik studio in Amsterdam (1998-2001); the Silodam housing complex in Amsterdam (1995-2002). Among projects under way are: a residential complex of patio-homes at The Hague (1999-); a village of workshops and craft studios in Munich (1999-); a high-rise apartment building in Madrid (2001-); the Buurt Neuen quarter in Amsterdam (2002-) and the civic Museum at Matsudai, Niigata, Japan (2000-).
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designer: Juan Navarro Baldeweg
Juan Navarro Baldeweg was born in Santander in 1939. From 1959 to 1960 he studied engraving at the School of Fine Arts at San Fernando, Madrid. In 1965 he graduated from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid, where he completed a PhD in 1969. In 1971-75, invited by Gyorgy Kepes, he taught at the Centre for Advanced Visual Studies at the mit in Boston, Massachusetts. A Full Professor at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid since 1977, he has held teaching positions in numerous universities, including the School of Architecture of Pennsylvania University (1987), Yale (the Eeero Saarinen chair, 1990), Princeton (the Jean Labatut chair, 1992) and Harvard Universities (the Kenzo Tange chair, 1997). His architectural works and sculptures have received various awards in Spain and abroad. He was elected an Academic of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes at San Fernando in 2000; since 2001 he has been an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects. His major projects and completed works include: La Casa de la Lluvia at Lierganes, Santander (1979); the restructuring of the old mills of Murcia (1984); the Conference Centre in Salamanca (1985); the Social Service Centre of San Francisco el Grande in Madrid (1985); a conference and exhibition Centre in Cadiz (1989); the headquarters of the Council for Industry and Tourism in Toledo (1993-96); the Museum and Study Centre of the Quarries of Altamira in Cantabria (1994-2000); the School of Economic, Business and Juridical Sciences at the University of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria (1991-99), where the library, auditorium and administrative building are now under construction.
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designer: Marc Newson
Born in Sydney in 1963, he studied sculpture and jewellery. His works (restaurants, furniture, watches, recording studios, even a private jet and a concept car for Ford) have been displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Design Museum in London and the Musèe des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.
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designer: Jean Nouvel
Born at Fumel, France, in 1945, Jean Nouvel, architect and urban planner, trained first in Bordeaux and then at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where in 1971 he graduated with the Diplome par le Gouvernement. After early work experience with Claude Parent’s practice, in 1970 he opened his first professional firm with François Seigneu and, in 1988, founded Jean Nouvel, Emmanuel Cattani et Associés (till 1994). He was a founder of the French Architects’ Movement (1976) and the Syndicat de l’Architecture (1979); he founded and directed the Biennale d’Architecture as part of the Biennale of Paris (1980); he was vice-president of the Institut Français d’Architecture (1991). Since 1983 he has received numerous awards and wide recognition in France and abroad, including the Leone d’Oro of the International Biennale of Architecture in Venice (2000), the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects (2001) and the Praemium Imperial (2001).
His principal works include the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris (1981-87); the restoration of the Opera House in Lyon (1986-93); the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain in Paris (1991-94); the Galeries Lafayette in Berlin (1991-96); the Cultural Centre Lucerne in (1993-2001).
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designer: Donata Paruccini
Born in 1966 in Milan, she graduated in Industrial Design at ISIA, Florence, with Jonathan De Pas. Since working with Andrea Branzi, she has exhibited her works in group exhibitions in Europe and Japan.
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designer: Jorge Pensi
Jorge Pensi was born in 1946 in Buenos Aires, where in 1969 he obtained a degree in architecture and industrial design. In 1975 he moved to Spain, first to Alicante and then to Barcelona, where he collaborated with Grupo Berenguer until 1984. In 1985 he set up his own studio, specialising in furniture design. He has worked with some of the most important Spanish, Italian, French, German and American companies. Furthermore, he has received numerous awards and acknowledgements for his products, and in particular the National Design Award in 1997.
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designer: Lorenzo Piccione di Pianogrillo
Lorenzo Piccione di Pianogrillo, born in Legnano but originating from a historic Sicilian family that moved to the north, took courses at the Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan and at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, also in Milan. He has maintained contacts with the land of his origins, transforming family properties into a modern and prestigious olive-oil agricultural enterprise. He has thus developed great experience in the production of extra virgin olive oil over the course of the years, reflecting his great passion for agriculture and the production of quality olives. He has two children; he is a photographer and a keen pianist.
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designer: Stefano Pirovano
Born in Milan in 1961, he is a designer, stage designer, graphic artist and interior designer, combining various languages in his projects and insisting on the close bond between function and representation in his objects.
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designer: Kuno Prey
He lives in Weimar and in San Candido on the Dolomites, where he was born in 1958. After the artistic studies, he started collaborating with industry making researches on materials and new technologies which would characterize his projects in the course of the years.He works as consultant for design and research in many companies for which he designed various projects that earned him international acclaim. He has been Professor of Product Design at the Bauhaus-Universität in Weimar at the Fakultät Gestaltung since 1993 when the faculty was set up and he has contributed to its launching and success since it was established.
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designer: Hans Przyrembel
German (1900-1945). Blacksmith and silversmith, he entered the Bauhaus in 1924. His projects of lamps, he designed with the collaboration of M. Brandt, are particularly noteworthy.
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designer: Hani Rashid
Rashid was born in Cairo in 1958. He studied architecture in Canada and in the United States, before opening his New York Asymptote Studio in 1988. He holds various teaches posts worldwide, and with his studio has designed a vast range of works that place him well ahead of his peers in the field of digital design. His projects span from experimental spatial installations to digital architecture. His most innovative works include two multi-dimensional and interactive architectural environments, i.e. the New York Stock Exchange Virtual Trading Floor and the Guggenheim Virtual Museum.
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designer: Karim Rashid
Born in Cairo in 1960. He receives a bachelor of Industrial Design in Canada in 1982 and postgraduate studies in Italy. For seven years he is at KAN Industrial Design and co-designs the Babel Fashion Collection for 6 years. In 1993, he opens his own studio in New York City. His works are in the permanent collections of 14 Museums.
His perspective and clients are global and while considers him more of a cultural provocateur, his projects range is from products, interiors, fashion, furniture, lighting, art, music to installations.
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designer: Aldo Rossi
Born in Milan (1931-1997), he is considered by many to be the greatest Italian architect of the second half of the 20th century. His life as an architect started with Gardella and Zanuso. An author of abstraction, reduction and brevitas, his severe language of primary shapes, geometrical patterns and silent evocation created some of the most intensely poetic works of architecture and design in his age.
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designer: SANAA
In 1995 Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa established the Sanaa partnership. They are active internationally in urban planning, landscape and interior design, exhibition installations and industrial design. Among their recently completed projects are: the O-Museum at Nagano (1995-99), a day care centre for the elderly at Yokohama (1997-2000), showrooms for Prada Isetan in Tokyo (2000) and Leegarden in Hong Kong (2001). Their current projects include: the Christian Dior Omotesando shop in Tokyo; the Contemporary Art Museum in Kanazawa; the municipal theatre at Almere, Holland; the Glass Centre at the Art Museum in Toledo and the extension to the Institute of Modern Art in Valencia, Spain.
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designer: Marta Sansoni
Born in Florence in 1963, architect and designer. In her Florence studio she creates designs for private homes, commercial spaces, outlets and interior fittings. Several of her works have been mentioned by "The international design yearbook 1999" and by "Designing the 21st century".
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designer: Richard Sapper
Born in Munich in 1932, he studied philosophy, anatomy, graphics, engineering and economics. Ten times winner of the Compassi d'Oro, his prime interest is the design of technically complex objects, from ships to watches.
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designer: Franco Sargiani
An architect, he was born in Modena in 1940 and graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Milan Polytechnic. After an early experience at Studio Morassutti and numerous training periods abroad, in England, Sweden, Finland and Denmark in particular, where he came into contact with some of the most distinguished design and production centres in those countries, he began his autonomous professional activity by opening a Studio in Milan. His interventions range from civil architecture to industrial and interior architecture, from industrial design to corporate image organisation, the latter often in collaboration with Eija Helander. He has taught industrial and visual design at the Scuola Politecnica e di Design, run by Nino Di Salvatore. He has collaborated with numerous other companies, including Alessi, Fantini, Filasp, Fidenza Vetraria, Inda, Emicar, Sipea… His designs have been published in books and specialised magazines, have been selected for the Golden Compass Award and have been presented in numerous museums, including the Beaubourg in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tel Aviv Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, the Museum of Applied Art in Helsinki, the Kunst Museum in Dűsseldorf, the Milan Triennial, etc. His creations can be found in the permanent collections of the Milan Triennial, the Museo de Arte de Sao Paolo in Brazil, the Kunstgewerbemuseum SMPK in Berlin, the Kunstmuseum in Dűsseldorf and in the Deutsches Deushes Klingenmuseum in Solingen in Germany.
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designer: Naoko Shintani
Born in Japan, Naoko Shintani has lived and worked in Italy since 1989. She has worked in the area of industrial design since 1981, collaborating with a number of companies in the field of home furnishings and accessories. She also works in packaging and has completed projects for the packaging industry and the gourmet confectionary field. She designs exhibition space for trade fairs as well as displays for numerous showrooms and shops, and her work was been awarded by the Italian Association of Window Decorators (ANVI). Shintani also works as an art director for various companies. Shintani’s customers include: Arflex, Nordica, Martini, Federalexpress, Editoriale Domus, Pomellato, MH Way, Diego Della Valle, Covo, Taveggia, San Lorenzo.
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designer: Emma Silvestris
Emma Silvestris, born in Salerno in 1962, currently lives and works in Bari. Having obtained a Bachelor of Arts, specialising in foreign literature and history of art, she subsequently worked as a teacher and researcher. Since 1990 she has been working in the field of design, taking part in the activities of the Special Studio in Bari. An eclectic and versatile designer, her projects combine soft, feminine lines, the precision and elegance of geometry and the use of ancient symbols.
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designer: Ettore Sottsass
Born in Innsbruck in 1917, he is known the world over as one of the initiators of the revolution in architecture and design which led away from the rigid functionalism of the years prior to and following the Second World War. A great and influential Maestro of Italian design, the energy of his language and the vitality of his colour and line contrast sharply with any intellectualism and rigidity. He dies in December 2007.
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designer: Philippe Starck
Born in Paris in 1949, he is one of the most original and creative designers of our time. He has obtained many important acknowledgements such as the Grand Prix National de la Création industrielle and the Honor Award of the American Institute of Architects, he considers himself as "a Japanese architect, an American art director, a German industrial designer, a French artistic director, an Italian furniture designer".
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designer: Oscar Tusquets
Born in Barcelona in 1941. In 1964 he set up Per Studio together with architects Pep Bonet, Cristiàn Cirici e Lluìs Clotet, with whom he collaborates in almost all his projects. He has received many prizes and acknowledgements. He is the author of "Arquitectura y làgrimas". Among his works worthy of notice are the Casa Fullà (1968-69) in Barcelona, L'Illa del Palau (1982), an adaptation of the Palace of the Catalan Music in Barcelona and of the Church of Saint Francis. He has been in charge of the project for the "Mirò Otro" exhibition (1968-69).
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designer: UN Studio
In 1988 Ben van Berke and Caroline Bos opened the Van Berkel & Bos Architectuurbureau in Amsterdam and produced numerous works in the Netherlands including: the remu power station (1989-93) and the Karbouw office building (1990-92) in Amersfoort; the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam (1990-96); the Het Valkhof Museum at Nijmegen and railway station at Arnhem (1995-99); the Möbius House at Het Gooi (1993-98) and the nmr nuclear research centre at the University of Utrecht (1996-2001). In 2001, Berkel & Bos won the international competition for the redevelopment of the former industrial area around the Ponte Parodi in Genoa, and in 2002 that for the new Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart. They are now developing the design of the Music Theatre at Graz, Austria, and the enhancement project for the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut.
In 1998 Berkel and Bos founded the un (United Net) Studio, an international multidisciplinary network to develop major large-scale planning projects, public works and urban infrastructures.
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designer: Patricia Urquiola
Born in Oviedo in 1961. She attended the faculty of Architecture at the Madrid Polytechnic and at the Milan Polytechnic University where she graduated in 1989 with Achille Castiglioni as her supervisor of whom she was assistant at the Milan Polytechnic from 1990 to 1992. From 1990 to 1996 she was at the Product Development Office for De Padova where she co-operated with Vico Magistretti. In 1996 she became design responsible at Studio Lissoni and Associates. In 2001 she opened a studio of planning where she looks after design, installations and architecture.
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designer: Robert Venturi
Born in Philadelphia in 1925, he is architect, city planner, designer, writer and teacher. He was awarded the Pritzer prize in 1991. His book "Complexity and Contraddiction in Architecture" (1966) is still considered as a keystone of architecture.
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designer: Guido Venturini
Born in Alfonsine, in 1957. Architect, designer, and explorer of the world of industrial design, space management and internal architecture (including the famous Maddalena Loveburger project in Prato, together with Stefano Giovannoni).
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designer: Lisa Maree Vincitorio
Lisa Maree Vincitorio, born on March 30th, 1983 in Melbourne (Australia). Making her mark as the youngest Australian designer to partnership with Alessi. Exhibiting in the Milan Furniture fair for 2004, one of the newest designers to hit the world scene. Lisa has caught the eye of many leading manufacturers. Her famous “Fruit Loop” and “Revolution” pieces have contributed in paving the way to possible further future success. Has appeared in many Australian design magazines which have both promoted and bench marked her household designs.
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designer: Köbi Wiesendanger
Köbi Wiesendanger, Swiss, was born in Zug. He studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Zurich. He has worked as art-director for Young & Rubicam in Milan, Brussels, Amsterdam and New York. Co-founder and creative director of TBWA Italia. He opened his own studio, working on design and creative consultancy in the areas of furnishing, fashion and communications. He also works as an illustrator and creator of characters, above all in Italy and Japan. With his wife he formed the company Avant de Dormir, for which he has designed all the collections and over 5,000 objects. Some of his design works have been exhibited in museums, under the direction of Philippe Starck and Jean Nouvel. He likes being a painter.
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designer: Theo Williams
Theo Williams, born in Oxford, graduated in industrial design in Manchester, moved to Milan in 1992 and since 2004 is also based in Amsterdam. He is the Art Director for Lexon, Paris, a Design Director for the fashion brand Mexx (Liz Claiborne, USA) for licensing products and branding and the Creative Director for the Japanese Department stores ‘Mono Comme Cà.’ He collaborates with Art Partners NY, with Giovanni Testino. His clients include Abet Laminate, Alessi, Artemide, Consonni, Danese, Dornbracht, Mobileffe, Pyrex, Tchibo, Technogym, Tronconi; he has created packaging for Prada, CK Jeans, Giorgio Armani, Ferragamo and accessories for Benetton. The bathroom collection ‘Risma’ for Merati has been selected for the ADI Design Index 2003/4, Compasso d’Oro 2004.
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designer: Marco Zanuso
Born in Milan in 1916, he graduated in archtecture from the Polytechnic in Milan where he worked as professor afterwards. He has influenced architecture and industrial design since 1945. He was editor in chief at Domus from 1947 to 1949 and from 1952 to 1954 he was editor at Casabella. Among Zanuso's most important architectural works there are the Olivetti industrial complexes in Buenos Aires and in São Paolo whereas among his most important objects there are furnishings designed for Artflex, the Brion Vega television set and the Borletti and Necchi sewing-machine. He has been awarded many international prizes at various Triennials and has received several Compasso d'Oro design awards.
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designer: Enrica Zanzi
Ivrea-born designer. Holds a Domus Academy Diploma and has worked with Guido Venturini and Aldo Cibic. Lives in Florence, where she works on industrial design, stage sets and theatrical costumes. Qualified in teaching Art Therapy and holds courses in ceramics modelling.
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designer: Peter Zumthor
Peter Zumthor was born in Basel in 1943. He is one of the most interesting international architects of the 21st century. Having studied at the Schule fuer Gestaltung in Basel and at the Pratt Institute in New York, he then renovated various protected buildings in the canton of Graubünden, before opening his own studio in 1979. His main works include the Sogn Benedetg Chapel in Somvitg (1988), the thermal baths in Vals (1996), the Kunsthaus in Bregenz (1997) and the Swiss Pavilion at the Expo 2000 in Hanover.
