Chimera, Artemide, 1969
©Foto Massimo Listri
Vico Magistretti (Milan 1920-2006)
Magistretti graduated in architecture from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1945. He worked intensely during the reconstruction period, designing various projects for the INA-Casa and QT8 neighborhoods, buildings and residential units. He participated in the Triennale in 1947 and was awarded the gold medal in 1951 and the grand prize in 1954. He promoted ADI in 1956 and served on the Compasso d’Oro jury. In 1959, he presented the design for Casa Arosio at the CIAM congress. In that same period, he designed Torre al Parco (Tower in the Park) in Via Revere, with Franco Longoni, and an office block in Corso Europa, Milan. From the 1960s, he also focused on industrial production, coming to be regarded as one of the fathers of Italian design and collaborating with Artemide, Gavina, Cassina, Oluce, De Padova, Flou and Kartell. He became a member of the Accademia di San Luca in 1967, and in 1983 became an honorary member of the Royal College of London, where he had previously been as visiting professor. He won Compasso d’Oro Awards in 1967 and 1979, and the Compasso d’Oro career prize in 1994. In 1986, he was awarded a gold medal by the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers. The Furniture Fair dedicated a solo show to him in 1997, while the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa held a retrospective of his works in 2003. In 2005, he was awarded the Abitare il Tempo Prize. His works can be found at MoMA, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Die Neue Sammlung; today, his studio is a foundation-museum and his archive has protected status.
“One day I picked up the phone, called Gismondi and explained to him: take a sheet of paper, fold it as if it were a wave and then cut it diagonally. That is how Chimera was born. I always tell this story of a lamp that was born over the phone, because for me design is all about the idea, and projects often start from words.” (Casabella, 644, April 1997)