Ludovico Magistretti was born in Milan on October 6th, 1920. His parents were both architects. In 1943, to avoid deportation to Germany, he moved away from Italy and went to Switzerland where he was able to follow some academic courses at the Champ Universitaire Italien in Lausanne. During his stay in the Swiss city he met Ernesto Nathan Rogers this meeting was very important for Magistretti's intellectual and professional training. In 1945 he returned to Milan and graduated in Architecture at the Politecnico. He immediately began his professional activity in his father's study, who died in the same year. In 1946 he participated in the R.I.M.A. (Italian Meeting for Exhibitions of Furniture) with some self-made furniture. The '50s were full of news, in few years he became one of the most brilliant architect thanks to the Tower at the Park in via Revere in Milan (1953-56) and the office building in Corso Europa (1955-57). The special attention to the theme of the house will be fundamental to his career in the 60s, his style will be first extremely criticized and then appreciated. The next decade Magistretti is getting closer and closer to design. The first product designed by Magistretti in 1960 is the Carimate chair, designed to furnish the golf club designed by him, then many other objects were added, the best known are the Maralunga sofa (1973, Compasso d’oro in 1979), the Sindbad sofa (1981) and the Veranda armchair (1983). He also designed a series of lamps, including Mania (1963), Dalù (1969), Chimera (1969), the very famous Eclisse (1966, Compasso d'oro 1967), Teti (1970) and Impiccato (1972). All of his deign works are exhibited at the permanent collection of MoMA in New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Die Neue Sammlungdi Monaco and other museum in America and Europe. Following his death in September 2006, the studio of Vico Magistretti, is converted into a museum dedicated to the study of his work.udio of Vico Magistretti, is converted into a museum dedicated to the study of his work.
