Vico Magistretti (1920-2006)

Vico Magistretti was an architect and industrial designer celebrated as the dean of Italian modernism. Born in Milan, Italy on October 6th, 1920.
Magistretti studied in Italy and Switzerland during the second World War and graduated from the Politecnico University in Milan in 1945.
He started work in the studio of his father, who was an architect and soon came under the influence of the architect Ernesto Nathan Rogers.
In 1959 he took part to the “Congres Internationaux d’ Architecture Moderne” (CIAM) in Otterlo, Netherlands where he presented radical projects alongside other Italian architects (BBPR, Gardella, De Carlo…). Magistretti took part to the extraordinary experimental neighborhood on the edge of Milan (knows as QT8), where a group of emerging architects and planners were given complete freedom. This work stands out even today for the humanistic qualities of the architecture, and for its green space.
With his life-long friend and fellow architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni he worked on the ‘Milano San Felice’, the first out-of-town, middle-class neighbourhood, with its hidden traffic, horseshoe form and city garden qualities. Similar developments were built throughout Italy during the 1970s and 1980s followed its design.
It was in the 1950s that Magistretti focused on industrial design. In collaboration with the entrepreneurs and craftsmen, Magistretti saw possibilities for a new series of well-designed, mass-produced goods. In 1956 he contributed to the founding of ADI, the Italian Industrial Design Association.
His works have been displayed in international design exhibitions, and can be seen in the most prestigious museums in the world -  twelve of Magistretti's projects are housed in the permanent design collection of MoMA, in New York, including his one-piece Selene plastic chair.
The Italian city of Genoa honoured him with a retrospective exhibition in 2003. Most of what Vico Magistretti designed is still manufactured today. He won numerous awards, among them the Gold Medal at the 1951 Triennale, the Grand Prix at the 1954 Triennale, three Compasso d'Oro awards - in the year 1967 for his lamp 'Eclisse', in 1979 for his lamp 'Atollo', and in 1995 for his outstanding career, as well as the Gold Medal of the Chartered Society of Industrial Artists & Designers in London, 1986.
Vico Magistretti lectured in Milan, Venice, Rome, London, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Aspen, Tokyo and Saõ Paulo and was professor at the Domus Academy in Milan.
Magistretti taught for 20 years at the Royal College of Arts, where he was nominated as a Royal Designer. He has also been a Honorary Member of the Royal Scottish Incorporation of Architects. He was appointed as a member of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome and of the Comitato Scientifico of the Politecnico University in Milan.
Despite the huge success of his design work, Magistretti continued to work as an architect, producing some extraordinary (and much undervalued) buildings in Italy and abroad.
In the field of industrial design he cooperated with important manufacturers,  such as: Artemide, Cassina, De Padova, Flou, Fontanarte, Fredericia, Fritz Hansen, Kartell, O'Luce, Schiffini, Olivari, Campeggi, Röstrand, Covo, and Thonet Vienna.
On September 19th, 2006 Vico Magistretti passed away in Milan, Italy.