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. 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.
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.
On September 19th, 2006 Vico Magistretti passed away in Milan, Italy.
