Best furniture designers

Achille Castiglioni was an Italian designer of furniture, lighting, radiograms and other objects. Castiglioni was born on 16 February 1918 in Milan, in Lombardy in northern Italy. He was the third son of the sculptor Giannino Castiglioni and his wife Livia Bolla. When the War was over, Castiglioni joined the architectural design practice that his brothers Livio and Pier Giacomo had started with Luigi Caccia Dominioni in 1938. Livio Castiglioni left the practice in 1952. From then until Pier Giacomo died in 1968, he and Achille worked as a team. Achille believed in experimentation; his method was to always start from scratch, stick to common sense, know the end goal and the means to achieve it.

Adam D. Tihany is a hospitality designer based in New York

Adolf Loos was an architect and a valid representative of a renewal in architecture, which included sacrificing all forms of superfluous formalism.

Adriano design studio has been founded by the Davide and Gabriele Adriano brothers.

An eclectic name in the design and graphics panorama, AG Fronzoni based his aesthetic studies on the elaboration and design of content.

Aino Aalto was a Finnish architect and a pioneer of Scandinavian design. She is known as a co-founder of the design company Artek

Sezgin Aksu turkish designer and Silvia Suardi italian architect.

Alain Gilles was born in 1970 in Bruxelles (Belgium).

Born on November 20th 1969, Alban-Sebastien's interest was not restricted to design but Art as a whole.

Alberto Basaglia and Natalia Rota Nodari

Alberto Danese is an Italian designer who has designed some products for Cattelan Italia

Alberto Meda was born in Lenno Tremezzina (Como), in 1945, he graduated in mechanical engineering from the Milan Polytechnic.

The work of Dutch artist and designer Aldo Bakker (born 1971) has a delicate and rare sense of harmony and the shapes communicate through colour

The traditional production was renewed thanks to the Art Direction of Aldo Londi, a man attentive to the evolution of taste and with a natural born creative and aesthetical sense.

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. 

Born in Padua (Italy) in 1977, Alessandro Busana graduated in industrial design in 1999 at Scuola Italiana Design.

Alessandro Dalla Pozza is the Research&Development manager of Estel

Alessandro Dubini is an Italian designer. After studies in design and architecture in Milan, and a degree in engineering, he opened his first studio in Como, Italy.

Alessandro Mendini is an architect, designer and artist, born in Milan in 1931.

He graduated in Architecture in 1959, and his first place of employment was Studio 

Alvar Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer, as well as a sculptor and painter.

Anderssen & Voll was established in the fall of 2009. Torbjørn Anderssen and Espen Voll were previously  founders and running partners of the design group Norway Says. 

Andrea Lucatello  is an industrial designer who lives and works in Treviso. Since he was young, he performed a varied and intense professional activity which has formed his experience, creativity and knowledge of processing techniques, in particular on composite materials and the design of furniture and boating.

Antoni Gaudí was a Spanish Catalan architect from Reus and the best known practitioner of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works reflect an individualized and distinctive style. 

Antonia Astori in 1968, with his brother Enrico and Adelaide Acerbi founded Driade. 

Antonio Citterio was born in the Italian city of Meda in 1950. He opened his own studio in 1972 and completed his degree in architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1975. 

Archirivolto was founded by Claudio Dondoli and Marco Pocci in 1983 as an industrial and general design and architecture practice.

Arik Levy was born in Tel Aviv. Artist and industrial designer, he attended the Art Center Europe in Switzerland where he graduated in Industrial Design in 1991.

Arne Jacobsen was a Danish architect and designer. He is remembered for his contribution to architectural Functionalism as well as for the worldwide success he 

B.B.P.R. was an architectural partnership founded in Milan, Italy in 1932. From each member's family name, came the acronym "BBPR".

Associated studio of architecture and design, Bartoli Design, a team comprising Carlo, Paolo and Anna Bartoli

Ellen Bernhardt and Paola Vella founded Bernhardt&Vella in Milan in 2008.

London-based Bethan Gray is one of the UK’s most celebrated furniture and homeware designers, having been awarded four Elle Decoration British Design Awards

Bodil Kjær designed a desk for MIT which was dubbed ‘The most beautiful desk in the world’ and eventually immortalized in 3 early James Bond movies.

BrogliatoTraverso is an architecture / design studio founded by Alberto Brogliato and Federico Traverso in 2014.

Bruno Fattorini based in Milan have earned an international reputation for the unique approach to contemporary furniture design marked by an Italian sign and supported by R&D activities on materials and processes.

Bruno Munari was an Italian artist, designer, and inventor who contributed fundamentals to many fields of visual arts (painting, sculpture, film, industrial design, graphic design) in modernism, futurism, and concrete art, and in non visual arts 

Børge Mogensen became a highly influential post-war designer and a leading representative of Danish Modern. 

Carlo Colombo is considered to be one of the most important Italian architects and designers. He has designed for top level brands right from the start of his career and has collaborated with hundreds of the most important design names of ‘Made in Italy

Carlo Mollino was an Italian architect, designer and photographer. Born in Turin, Piedmont, Carlo Mollino was the son of Eugenio Mollino, an engineer.

From architecture to works in glass, from design projects to preparing museum exhibitions, the work of Carlo Scarpa has always stood out in the unmistakable way in which it manages to bring together his love for materials, his attention to detail and his masterly elaboration of organic and Wrightian poetics.

Sharing a passion for design and fashion in 2008 Alessandro Castello and Maria Antonietta Lagravinese created the brand ONLYMITED featuring a collection of limited edition pieces inspired by the world of fashion. From this experience it was born Castello Lagravinese Studio

Cecilie Manz founded her own studio in Copenhagen in 1998. Here she designs furniture, glass, lamps and related products, mainly for the home; all is characterized by a discreet and playful aesthetics and funcitional details that are able to create the aesthetic essence of an object in a subtle way

Charles and Ray Eames were husband and wife American designers who made significant historical contributions to the development of modern architecture and furniture.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was born in Glasgow in 1868 and died in London on 10th December 1928. His personality is one of those that characterize the period immediately preceding the Modern Movement. Besides the School of Art, the most interesting works are undoubtedly: the “Windyhill” house at Kilmacolm (1900), the “Hill House” at Helensburgh (1902-3), the arrangement of the Derngate house, Northampton (1916-20), and the decorative work in Miss Cranston’s Tea-Rooms in Glasgow. Among the furnishings of his decorative interiors, it is above all the chair – an object of special attention in the “Cassina I Maestri” collection – which represents the focal point for coordinated spatial action.

Charlotte Perriand holds full membership of that avant-garde cultural movement which, from the first decades of the twentieth century, brought about a profound change in aesthetic values.

Christian Haas was born in 1974 in Erlangen, Germany. He founded his own studio in the year 2000, just one year after his graduating with a degree in industrial design.

Christoph Böninger studied industrial design in Munich and Los Angeles. As his dissertation project, he designed the world’s first laptop computer, which is on display at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. 

Christophe Pillet, a French designer who started his training in Milan in 1991, is highly versatile with his creations and partnerships

Cini Boeri took her degree in the Polytechnic in Milan in 1951. She started her independent professional activity in 1963 (after a period of collaboration with Marco Zanuso) working in architecture and design. 

Claesson Koivisto Rune is a Swedish multidisciplinary design/architecture office based in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in 1995 by former University College of Arts classmates Mårten Claesson, Eero Koivisto and Ola Rune.

Claudio Dondoli & Marco Pocci founded Archirivolto in Colle Val D'Elsa

Clemens Weisshaar originally trained as a metal worker – and then studied product design, among others at the London Royal College of Art. 

Cristina Celestino was born in Pordenone in 1980. In 2005 she graduated from Iuav in Venice

Born in London in 1974, Damian Williamson graduated in 1998 from the Department of Product Design at Kingston University London, with his thesis in Advanced Materials. 

Daniele Lo Scalzo Moscheri born in Milan on 9 November, 1963, an Architecture graduate from the University of Milan in 1987

Dante Bonuccelli was born in 1956 in Buenos Aires. He worked as a design consultant for Dada and Unifor. 

David Lopez Quincoces born in Spain in 1980, obtained a degree in Art from

the 'University Complutense of Madrid' in 2004, followed by a Masters in Interior Design at the 'Polictecnico di Milano'.

De Pas, d'Urbino, Lomazzi are three italian designers

Decoma Design is an industrial design and engineering society established in 1986.

Didier Gomez began his career as an opera singer before branching out into the world of interior and product design in 1985 with his association with the architect JJ Ory.

Dodo Arslan is an italian designer with armenian origins, living and working between Miami and Milan.

Doshi Levien is a London based design office, established in 2000 by Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien. 

Founded in 2007 in the town of Como, Italy, Draga & Aurel is a multi-disciplinary design studio that works along the spectrum of furniture, textile and interior design.

Dror Benshetrit is a designer based in New York City. He was born in Tel Aviv (Israel) and studied at Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands.

Founded in 2012 by Gaia Giotti and Jonah Scarselli, E-GGS is concerned with the design of a transversal approach, ranging from product design, interior and architecture.

Following his studies at the Associated State School for Applied Arts in Berlin and the London Polytechnic, Eckart Muthesius became a master student in the studio of his father, Hermann Muthesius, cofounder of the Deutscher Werkbund.

BarberOsgerby is a London-based industrial design studio established in 1996 by British designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby.

Eero Aarnio is a Finnish interior designer, noted for his innovative furniture designs in the 1960s, such as his plastic and fibreglass chairs.

Eero Saarinen was a 20th-century Finnish American architect and industrial designer noted for his neofuturistic style.

Eero Sairanen studied at the University of Art and Design Helsinki and managed his own industrial design studio in Helsinki.

Eileen Gray was an Irish furniture designer and architect and a pioneer of the Modern Movement in architecture.

Product designer and artist, Elena Salmistraro lives and works in Milan.  She graduated from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 2008 and in 2009 she founded her own studio

Elisa Ossino is an architect, stylist and interior designer. Her research is focused on designing interiors, set-ups, sets and visual identities.

Enzo Mari studied at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Milan, and alongside his studies, in the fifties he had already developed an intense artistic production, with personal and collective exhibitions at galleries and contemporary art museums.

Established in Vienna, the EOOS trio is comprised by Gernot Bohmann, Harald Gründl and Martin Bergmann. 

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.

Evangelos Vasileiou was born in Athens in 1976. After having obtained his degree in interior architecture and product design by the école Camondo, he continued his studies in architecture in the école Paris-Malaquais, where he graduated as a dplg architect.

Fabio Bortolani, architect and designer, lives and works in Spilamberto, near Modena. Collaborates with a good number of firms in Italy and abroad; his work has been praised internationally and he has been awarded numerous international awards.

In 2006 Fabio Calvi and Paolo Brambilla set up an office for design and architecture in Milan.

Fabio Novembre was born in Milan in 1966. An architect since 1992, he became famous through a large series of design projects for restaurants, nightclubs and shops in Italy and abroad, as well as through his unique pieces of Italian furniture designed for Cappellini, Driade and Flaminia. 

After graduating from the National School of Fine Arts in Dijon, Berrux set up the firm “18 Août” in 1987, creating playful objects which are sold in major museum shops

An architect since 1977, he has been dedicating himself since 1980 to Industrial Design, collaborating with Furniture Companies of international importance.

Favaretto & Partners was established in 1973. Paolo, architect, designer and industrial consultant, collaborates with prestigious Italian and foreign companies, obtaining important awards and recognition.

Faye Toogood is a British designer. Her furniture and objects demonstrate a preoccupation with materiality and experimentation.

Federico Pepe was born in Omegna in 1976 and lives and works in Milan. 

Moved to Paris after having completed his university studies, Federico Peri begins his own professional career working together with great masters and defining his own interest as synergy between historical and contemporary.

Of Danish origin, but naturalized in England, Fermé dedicates himself to a series of projects that range from architecture to product design.

Born in Cremona in 1960,  Laviani attends the International Professional Institute for the Arts and the Violin Making of Cremona and graduates in 1978.

Florence Knoll was an American architect, designer and entrepreneur. With the help of Eliel Saarinen and Alvar Aalto, he completed his studies under the influence of some of the most important Masters of the last century including Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. 

Together with her husband, Hans Knoll, she transformed the Knoll Associates company into a design-oriented furniture industry, a champion of the American culture of good design.

Florence has become famous for its ability to give shape to space, also revolutionizing the way we live and use offices, offering modern furniture with clean lines and clear geometries, rationally organized for the needs of employees.

Foersom & Hiort-Lorenzen have created organic, function, durable designs with the aim of adding long-lasting value for people and their surroundings

Foster+Partners is one of the most innovative architecture and integrated design practices in the world. Over the past four decades the practice has pioneered a sustainable approach to architecture through a strikingly wide range of work, from urban masterplans, public infrastructure, airports, civic and cultural buildings, offices and workplaces to private houses and product design. 

Francesco Meda has graduated in 2006 from Milan’s Istituto Europeo of Design in Industrial Design.

Francesco Rota, interior and product designer, born in 1966 in Milan where he lives and works.

Franco Albini was an Italian Neo-Rationalist architect and designer.

Frank Gehry, born 1929 in Toronto, Canada, earned a degree in architecture from the University of Southern California before studying urban planning at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. 

Frits Henningsen was a Danish furniture designer and cabinet maker who achieved high standards of quality with exclusively handmade pieces.

Sofia Lagerkvist and Anna Lindgren are the members of the Swedish design group Front. 

Gabriele Buratti (1962), architect and professor of interior design at the Facoltà del Design of the Politecnico di Milano (2003-2010), and Oscar Buratti (1967), architect, have founded the architecture and design studio BURATTI ARCHITETTI.

Gae Aulenti was a prolific female Italian architect, whose work spans industrial and exhibition design, furniture, graphics, stage design, lighting and interior design.

GamFratesi studio was founded in 2006 by danish architect Stine Gam and italian architect Enrico Fratesi.

García Cumini is the result of a merger of two cultures with a multi-disciplinary approach, whereby design, installations and Art Direction follow the personal philosophy of Slow Design.

Geoffrey Harcourt trained at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1962, he designed his first series of small office fauteuils for Artifort. 

George Nelson born 1908 in Hartford, Connecticut (USA), studied architecture at Yale University. 

Gerrit Rietveld was a Dutch furniture designer and architect. One of the principal members of the Dutch artistic movement called De Stijl, Rietveld is famous for his Red and Blue Chair and for the Rietveld Schröder House, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Gianluigi Landoni architect and designer carries out the professional activity as an agency consultant "design oriented" in various productive sectors. 

Gio Ponti graduated from Milan Polytechnic in 1920 and was art director for Richard-Ginori from 1923 to 1930.

Giopato & Coombes: Two people, in love with “making” projects. An architect and a designer. A woman and a man, she is Italian and he is English. 

Giorgio Cattelan, founder of the company CATTELAN ITALIA SPA, was born in Thiene

L’architetto milanese dal 1979 lavora con lo spirito e la curiosità di chi vuole continuamente rinnovarsi.

Giuseppe Bavuso is an architect and designer who lives and works in Seregno, located in the North of Milan.

The designer Giuseppe Viganò is dedicated to the industrial design of furniture products and to the artistic direction of companies in the sector. He also provides graphic consulting for the production of catalogues, getting directly involved in the photography, page layout, communication and advertising pages.

Gordon Guillaumier born in Malta in 1966. Moved to Milan in 1989 to study industrial design and design management; later worked with architect Rodolfo Dordoni. In 2002,after working as a freelance designer, he opened his own office in Milan.

Greta Magnusson Grossman (1906-1999) was a Swedish furniture designer, interior designer, and architect.

Brazilian Guilherme Torres is famous for his innovative residential and commercial architectural projects as well as his interiors and furniture designs.

Hannes Wettstein was a renowned designer, designing particularly successful products for Molteni amongst others. 

Among Danish furniture designers, Hans J. Wegner (1914-2007) is considered one of the most creative, innovative and prolific. Often referred to as the master of the chair, Wegner designed more than 500 chairs in his lifetime – many of them considered masterpieces.

Born in the Netherlands in 1966, Harry is an industrial designer and graduate of the Design Academy in Eindhoven. Camila was born in Chile and raised in Mexico, with a degree in Fashion Design.

Harry Bertoia was an Italian-born American artist, sound art sculptor, and modern furniture designer.

The designer Hella Jongerius has become known for the manner in which she fuses industry and craft, high- and low-tech, traditional and contemporary. 

Domenico Parisi, nicknamed Ico, was born in Palermo on the 23rd of September 1916 to Sicilian parents who were living in the Piedmont region.

Ignazio Gardella was an Italian architect and designer.

Ilmari Tapiovaara was one of the greatest interior architects and designers of his era. With the mind of anexplorer and a soul of a craftsman, Tapiovaara was always seeking for new solutions to improve everyday objects. 

Inga Sempé born in Paris, France. Graduated of Les Ateliers-ENSCI in Paris, in 1993. Has started her own studio in 2000. 

Isamu Noguchi, born in 1904 in Los Angeles to the Japanese poet Yone Noguchi and the American writer Leonie Gilmour, studied at Columbia University and the Leonardo da Vinci Art School.

Spanish artist-designer Jaime Hayon was born in Madrid in 1974. After studying industrial design in Madrid and Paris he joined Fabrica – the Benetton-funded design and communication academy in Italy- in 1997 where he directed the design department until 2003

Born in Copenhagen, Jakob Wagner earned his first degree in Design Engineering.

Both born in Prague in the 90s, Matěj Janský and Cyril Dunděra first met there as Furniture Studio classmates at Arts and Crafts Secondary school at the age of 16 – their collaboration started immediately since then.

Jasper Morrison was born in London in 1959, and graduated in Design at Kingston Polytechnic Design School, London.

Jean Nouvel is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of Mars 1976 and Syndicat de l'Architecture.

Jean Prouvé, who regarded himself as an engineer throughout his lifetime, was both the designer and manufacturer of his product ideas.

Graduated ENSCI in 1990, Jean-Marie Massaud has run a quest for synthesis, reduction and lightness since his first intuitions.

Joe Colombo was an Italian industrial designer. He was until 1949 educated at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, the academy of fine arts, in Milano as a painter and studied afterwards until 1954 Architecture at Politecnico di Milano University.

Johanna Grawunder is a designer and architect based in Milan, Italy and San Francisco.

John Pawson was born in 1949 in Halifax, Yorkshire. After a period in the family textile business he lived for a number of years in Japan.

Josef Albers was a German-born American artist and educator whose work, both in Europe and in the United States, formed the basis of some of the most influential and far-reaching art education programs of the twentieth century.

Karim Rashid is one of the most prolific designers of his generation. Over 3000 designs in production, over 300 awards and working in over 40 countries attest to Karim’s legend of design.

Kazuhide Takahama was born in Japan in 1930 and after completing his studies in Architecture in Tokyo, started working in Kazuo Fuioka’s studio. 

Keiji Takeuchi was born in Fukuoka, Japan, in 1977. After having spent his youth in New Zealand, he graduated with a bachelor in product design in Auckland.

Kengo Kuma completed his master’s degree at the University of Tokyo in 1979. After studying at Columbia University as a Visiting Scholar, he established Kengo Kuma & Associates 1990.

Kensaku Oshiro was born in Okinawa, Japan, in 1977. After gaining a Master's degree in Industrial Design at the Scuola Politecnica di Design in Milan in 1999, he began working with various studios until 2004, when he joined the design team at Lissoni Associati where he worked until mid-2012.

Khodi Feiz is an industrial designer who was born in Iran and grew up in the USA. 

Konstantin Grcic was born in 1965. He was trained as a cabinet maker at The John Makepeace School (Dorset, England) before studying Design at the Royal College of Art in London.

Lanzavecchia + Wai is a creative collaboration between Francesca Lanzavecchia (Pavia, 1983) and Hunn Wai (London, 1980).

Le Corbusier was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture.

Lievore Altherr Molina was created in 1991 by the merging of its three partners: Alberto Lievore (1948), Jeannette Altherr (1965) and Manel Molina (1963).

Lluís Clotet with Oscar Tusquets

The Milanese design Studio Lorenz + Kaz, was founded in 2001 by Catharina Lorenz and Steffen Kaz, both German designers living and working in Italy since the mid Nineties.

Lorenza Bozzoli was born in Milan. She studied art at Brera where she qualified in the 80’.After early work experience as fashion designer of shoes and accessories in New York

Luca Nichetto was born in 1976 in Venice, where he studied at the Art Institute. Afterwards he attended the University Institute of Architecture of Venice (IUAV), where he earned a degree in Industrial Design.

Paolo Lucidi and Luca Pevere got together at well-known design offices in Milan.  In 2002 they signed their first commissions together and, in 2006, establish Studio Lucidi & Pevere in Milan. 

Ludovica+Roberto Palomba, architects, work and live in Milan. They founded Palomba Serafini Associati in 1994.

Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe was a German-American architect.[1] He is commonly referred to and was addressed as Mies, his surname. Along with Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright, he is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modernist architecture.

Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu are the Founding Partners of Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, a design practice that embodies architecture, master planning, interior design, product design and graphic design based in Shanghai, China,

Belgian designer Maarten Van Severen (1956-2005), the son of abstract painter Dan Van Severen, studied architecture at the Saint-Lucas Institute in Ghent. 

Architect Mac Stopa combines architecture, interior design, industrial design, art, fashion and his love of graphics into one design discipline.

Dutch designer Mae Engelgeer attended the Amsterdam Fashion Instituut where she specialised in textile design, graduating in 2004.

Man Ray ,U.S. painter, photographer, film maker; one of the founders of the New York Dada movement, long associated with Surrealism, was, by temperament an eclectic.

Born in Australia, Marc Newson has worked all over the world: first in Tokyo, then Paris, and finally in London

Marcel Breuer, German designer and architect who was originally from Hungary, enrolled at the Bauhaus School when he was just 18. 

Marcel Wanders is product- and interior designer who became internationally known with his iconic Knotted Chair, which he produced for Droog Design in 1996.

Born 1986, Marco Lavit studied architecture at Ecole Speciale d’Architecture in Paris and at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; he graduated in 2011 with a dissertation on wineries sustainable design and, in 2014, he founded his architecture and design practice, Atelier LAVIT, in Paris starting to practice in France and Italy.

Architect, designer and university lecturer, Marco Zanuso (1916-2001) was one of the leading interpreters of the Modern Movement. 

Marco Zanuso Jr. Architect, graduated in Firenze. After his studies in Florence, where he got in contact with radical architecture and its main protagonists: Superstudio, Michele De Lucchi, Andrea Branzi, Ufo, Mendini ed Ettore Sottsass.

Marella Ferrera is an italian fashion stylist who designed side tables for paola lenti

Mario Bellini is an architect and designer internationally renowned. He received the Golden Compass Award eight times and 25 of his works are in the permanent design collection of the New York MoMA, which dedicated to him a personal retrospective in 1987

Mario Marenco is an italian actor, designer and architect.

Marta Laudani and Marco Romanelli, architects, have been collaborating since 1988 in the associated offices of Rome and Milan. 

Matteo Nunziati opened his interior design office in Milan in 2000. The product design department of the studio collaborates with some of the most important furniture, lighting and covering firms.

Matteo Thun, architect and designer, was born in Bolzano in 1952. He studied at the Salzburg Academy with Oskar Kokoschka and at the University of Florence.

Mauro Lipparini graduated in 1980 from the University of Florence’s Department of Architecture where he has also been a faculty member. 

Michael Anastassiades founded his studio in London in 1994. 

Michael Thonet (Boppard 1796 – Vienna 1871) trained as a cabinetmaker, specialising in geometric marquetry.

A furniture designer and producer, in 1830 he began to experiment with using bent wood to make chairs, and in 1841 succeeded in filing a patent for a new process treating strips of beech with steam or boiling them in water and glue with minimal costs to provide an innovative, very light, flexible and durable material.

In 1849 he moved to Vienna, opened a factory that manufactured chairs, coffee tables, clothes racks, etc., marked by their simple and linear design, with immediate and long-lasting success. Thonet opened new factories in Moravia and in Hungary to increase production and opened sales showrooms in the main European and American cities.

Michel Ducaroy was born in 1925, into a family of designers and furniture makers whose activities were split between private houses and larger-scale contracts

Michele De Lucchi designed lamps and furnishing items for the most renowned Italian and European companies.

Michiel Van der Kley is a Dutch designer, exploring new boundaries. With Project Egg, he is trying to create a new way of working, producing and sharing.

In 2012 Mikal Harrsen established MA/U Studio together with Adam Hall

Miki Astori after completing his studies as an architect in 1991, started working with Antonia Astori as an interior designer.

Noa Ikeuchi from Japan and Tommaso Nani from Italy met while they were attending the IED, Istituto Europeo di Design, and started working together on various projects

The architect and designer Monica Armani was born in Trento. She starts her professional experience with her father, Marcello Armani, an extraordinary rationalist architect

Monica Förster creator of some of the most internationally renowned objects in contemporary Swedish design today, grew up close to the Artic circle in the very north of Sweden.

Born in Copenhagen and originally trained in shipping, Morten Gøttler became a self-taught designer and architect

Nanda Vigo was born in Milan in 1936. She lives in Milan and East Africa. She was interested in art from a very young age.

Nanna Ditzel: one of most renowned Danish designers; throughout her life she was awarded numerous prizes including, in 1990, the Gold Medal in the International Furniture Design Competition

Naoto Fukasawa, born 1956 in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, studied art and 3D-design at Tama Art University in Tokyo. 

Nathan Yong graduated from Temasek Polytechnic with a diploma in Industrial Design in 1991. He began his career not as a designer, but as a buyer as well as engaging in product development for various companies in Singapore.

Under the direction of architect Oki Sato, the group that gathers under the name Nendo has represented a cultured and refined alternative to self-celebrative design since 2002.

Eva Paster (1971) and Michael Geldmacher (1968) met during their studies at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich and established their studio "Neuland Industriedesign" in the Bavarian capital in 1999. 

Nicola Gallizia, who was born in Milan, studied at the Milan Polytechnic Architecture Faculty. From 1990 to 1999 he worked with Luca Meda as an assistant creating the image and product for Molteni&C and Dada.

A designer of both environments and objects, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance was born in Mende, France in 1975.

Omi Tahara ( Kanagawa / Japan, 1977 ) is a self-taught designer based in Milan.

Carlos Guijarro and Alex Ortega stand behind the design studio OrtegaGuijarro founded in 2017 in Barcelona. The two designers with a background in industrial and interior design have set themselves the goal to create individual and surprising everyday solutions with their work.

With a degree in architecture, a natural talent for painting and a vocation for design, Oscar Tusquets is an example of a complex and multi-faceted artist that seems to be an endangered species in today’s world, where specialized study has become the standard

Born in Augsburg, Otto Blümel studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich and then took up painting. From 1907 to 1914 he was director of the design department at the United Workshops for Art in Craftsmanship in Munich, a pioneering force in the interior design and decoration of the era.

Paola Navone

BORN

Torino , 1950

Born in Turin, Paola Navone adopted Milan as her home; he graduated in architecture in 1973 and between the Seventies and the Eighties she worked in the Alchinia group alongside with Alessandro Mendini, Ettore Sottsass and Andrea Branzi.

Paolo Cappello born in 1980 in Verona. Graduated in Industrial Design at Politecnico di Milano. After a three years collaboration with Ludovica+Roberto Palomba in Milan, in 2007 he setup his own studio in Verona where he collaborates with other professionals in architecture, communication and graphics.

Paolo Golinelli Architect and designer, graduated from Politecnico di Milano, where he also thaugt from 2004 to 2014

The architect Paolo Tilche (Alexandria, Egypt, 1925 - Milan, 2003)

Aldo Parisotto (Monselice, 1962) and Massimo Formenton (Padua, 1964) took a degree in architecture at the IUAV of Venice in late 1980s.

Michele Rossi and Filippo Pagliani In 2000 founded Park Associati, a design studio that operates in the field of architecture, interior and industrial design, working with public bodies, companies and private clients.

Pascal Mourgue who considers himself more an artist than designer, studied wood sculpture at L’Ecole Boulle and pursued design and interior architecture at L’Ecole Nationale des Artes Decoratifs in his native France. 

Patricia Urquiola was born in Oviedo (Spain) and currently lives and works in Milan. 

She graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Madrid in 1989, after completing a thesis with Achille Castiglioni. 

French designer Patrick Norguet has remained close to the fashion world through his collaboration with Louis Vuitton, Lanvin, Guerlain, and Christian Dior.

Paul McCobb (1917-1969) was one of the leading contemporary furniture designers on the American design scene in the 1950s and 1960s.

Peter Maly in 1970 has started his own design firm in Hamburg. His design projects have been manufactured by the most important European furniture manufacturers

Philippe Nigro born in Nice, France, in 1975. Milan based, works between France and Italy. Since 1999 is a freelance designer and collaborates with the Studio De Lucchi in Milan.

Despite his thousands of projects – completed or in the making – his global fame and his tireless protean inventiveness, we must never forget the essential.

Piergiorgio Cazzaniga was born in 1946, he got a diploma at “ISPMA” in Lissone, then he followed a two years course in interior design where he got certifications as wood, gluing and drier technician.

Piero Lissoni has studied Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano and on graduating in 1985, he begins collaborating as designer and Art Director with furniture manufacturers  Boffi, Living Divani and Porro.

Pierre Jeanneret was a Swiss architect who collaborated with his cousin, Charles Edouard Jeanneret (who assumed the pseudonym Le Corbusier)

Pierre Paulin was a French furniture designer and interior designer. His uncle Georges Paulin was a part-time automobile designer and invented the mechanical retractible hardtop, who was later executed by the Nazis in 1941 as a hero of the French Resistance.

Piet Hein was a Danish mathematician, inventor and designer, well known for the superellisse a new shape, not an oval and not a rectangle, that has inspired numerous projects, from furniture to lighting systems.

Poul Henningsen was born in Copenhagen to the famous Danish actress Agnes Henningsen. 

Poul Volther was a Danish furniture designer who is remembered above all for his iconic Corona Chair.

Raphael Navot was born in Jerusalem, Israel in 1977. He graduated from The Design Academy in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Renè Holten is a graduate of institutions including the Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and Design and the Design Academy Eindhoven. 

Renzo Piano is an Italian architect born in Genoa in 1937 from a family of builders. He attended the Faculty of Architecture first at the University of Florence and then at the Politecnico di Milano.

While still a student, he began to study with his Italian mentor Franco Albini and before graduating he went to Paris where he attended the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers with Jean Prouvé.

From the beginning, his style is characterized by constant research and experimentation with regard to materials and structural types and by a strong anti-academic vein both fed, as repeatedly stated, by an all-encompassing passion for technology and construction.

In 1971 he founded the Piano & Rogers studio in London with Richard Rogers, with whom he won the competition for the Pompidou Centre; in 1981 he founded Renzo Piano Building Workshop, with 150 employees and offices in Paris, Genoa and New York.

The design studio of Robby Cantarutti & Francesca Petricich - husband and wife - was established in 1995.

Roberto Barbieri has been a valid planner in architecture and design and he had cooperation with prestigious companies of Italian market.

Roberto Lazzeroni, born in Pisa, began his professional life with the study of art and architecture in Florence 

Architect and designer Rodolfo Dordoni was born in Milan, where he graduated in Architecture.

Ron Arad is an Israeli industrial designer, artist, and architect

Ron Gilad Born in 1972 in Tel-Aviv. After several years spent in New York, he has just moved back to his native city. 

Ronan (born 1971) and Erwan Bouroullec (born 1976) are brothers and designers based in Paris.

Salvador Dalí was a prominent Spanish surrealist painter born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain.

Louisa Hutton and Matthias Sauerbruch studied at the Architectural Association London. Their office for architecture, urban development and design established in 1989 enjoys exceptional international acclaim.

Sebastian Herkner born 1981, studied Product Design at the Design Academy in Offenbach. During his studies he did an internship at Stella McCartney in London and developed a particular liking there for colour, material and their connection. 

Chilean architect, painter and designer Sebastián Matta was the protagonist of the most important artistic movements of the XX century

Lukas Scherrer is the founder of Shibuleru, a design studio based in San Francisco. Before launching SHIBULERU, Lukas was a senior designer at IDEO in Palo Alto. 

Shiro Kuramata was a Japanese designer from 1965 when he founded the Kuramata Design Office in Tokyo until he died in 1991.

Space Copenhagen is a design studio, established in 2005 by Signe Bindslev Henriksen and Peter Bundgaard Rützou, and working across multiple disciplines from furniture and lighting to art installations, art direction and interior design all over the world.

Stefano Giovannoni works as an industrial and interior designer and architect, specializing in plastic products. 

Stephen Burks is one of the most recognized American industrial designers of his generation.

Steven Holl is a New York-based American architect and watercolorist. 

Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel founded Studio Job in 2000. This studio was established in the Renaissance spirit - where traditional and modern techniques are combined to produce once-in-a-lifetime objects.

Studio Kronos has designed some designer furniture for Cattelan Italia

Dino Gavina, (1922-2007), began his career in the 40's working on stage sets, a great passion of his. He was convinced that design needed to be both modern and richly poetic, and soon began to gain support from many of the country's leading designers and architects

Studiocharlie was founded in 2002 by Gabriele Rigamonti (Zingonia,1976), Carla Scorda (Catanzaro,1976) and Vittorio Turla (Rovato,1975).

Studiopepe is a design studio founded in Milan in 2006. We take a visionary and multidisciplinary approach to interior design, styling, set design, style consultancy, and trend forecasting. 

Superstudio was an architecture firm, founded in 1966 in Florence, Italy by Adolfo Natalini and Cristiano Toraldo di Francia. Superstudio was a major part of the Radical architecture movement of the late 1960s. 

Tadao Ando is a Japanese self-taught architect

TAF is a Stockholm based design and architecture studio founded in 2002 by Gabriella Gustafson and Mattias Ståhlbom.

Tito Agnoli came to Italy at the end of WWII, moving from Perù where he was born into an Italian family. After being trained as a painter he enrolled in the of Architecture, where he graduated in 1959 and was assistant to Gio Ponti and to Carlo De Carli. In 1986 he won the gold medal at the Neocon in Chicago.

Toan Nguyen is a French industrial designer living in Milan who was born in Paris in 1969. He graduated from the ENSCI (Paris) in 1995. 

Tobia Scarpa in 1969 earned a degree in architecture form the Università di Venezia and the same year he won the 'Compasso d'Oro' award for the 'Soriana' easy chair.

Born from the collaboration between contemporary artist Maurizio Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari, TOILETPAPER is a magazine composed exclusively of images

Tom Dixon is a self-taught British designer. He is currently the Creative Director of the brand 'Tom Dixon' specialising in Lighting, Furniture and Accessories.

Toyo Ito is a Japanese architect known for creating conceptual architecture, in which he seeks to simultaneously express the physical and virtual worlds. 

Umberto Asnago obtained his diploma at the Istituto d’Arte in Cantu’ (CO) and he soon started his experience as designer with Giorgetti SpA in 1968, where lately he assumed  the direction of the Research Center.

Verner Panton is considered one of Denmark's most influential 20th-century furniture and interior designers. During his career, he created innovative and futuristic designs in a variety of materials, especially plastics, and in vibrant and exotic colors. 

n 1920 Magistretti was born in Milan, the city in which he graduated in architecture in 1945, and where his professional career has spun its story ever since, chiefly in the fields of architecture, town planning and industrial design. 

Victor Carrasco began his professional career after

graduating cum laude with a degree in Design Engineering from the

Polytechnic University of Valencia, with multiple collaborations with

prestigious international companies as creative and strategic director,

communication management and product design.

Victor Vasilev was born in 1974 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. At the age of 15 his family immigrated to Israel. He studied architecture at the Politecnico in Milan and at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. 

Victoria Wilmotte was born 1985 in Paris, where she studied interior design. She later earned her master’s degree in product design at the Royal College of Art in London.

Vincent Van Duysen  was born in Lokeren, Belgium, in 1962. As soon as he was qualified as an architect in 1985, he started work in Milan with Cinzia Ruggeri and Aldo Cibic-Sottsass Associati.

Vincenzo De Cotiis was born in 1958 in Gonzaga, Italy. He studied architecture at the Milan Polytechnic and founded his studio in 1997.

Walter Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture.

Xavier Lust is a furniture designer and sculptor based in Brussels. He is best known for the unique technique of shaping metal that he uses to make furniture. 

Yabu Pushelberg is an international design firm, with studios in Toronto and SoHo, New York, founded in 1980 by Glenn Pushelberg and George Yabu.