NOSTRAFORMA - Key Persons
Achille Castiglioni was born in 1918 in Milano and studied architecture at the local Polytechnic University. After graduating in 1944, he started working together with his two brothers Livio and Pier. After Livio left, they focused on orders for interior and product design. With their simple and reduced style, they are among those who created the modern design of the post-war era. The Castiglioni brothers became famous in 1957 with the tractor seat Mezzadro. Like the stool Sella, the seat which is the replica of a bicycle seat, Mezzadro demonstrates how familiar objects can be used in a new and stunning way.
For the Italian company Flos, the brothers developed extraordinary light objects, which now have the rank of absolute classics of design, such as Arco, Toio, Taraxacum and Taccia, to name just a few. The arched lamp Arco by Achille Castiglioni allies a perfect metallic arch with a refined marble block, which serves as a base and is a distinctive feature of Arco. The light Taraxacum (the scientific name for the dandelion) designed in 1988 enjoys a constant popularity. The famous seats by the Castiglioni brothers are manufactured by Zanotta. Also tables and other pieces of furniture by the Castiglioni brothers are in the portfolio of the Italian brand of furniture.
Pier suddenly died aged 55 in 1968, whereupon Achille started teaching. From 1969 to 1980, he was a professor at the Polytechnic University of Turin and then a university lecturer in Milano. Beside the many prizes he received for his light fixtures and other design projects, he was the nine-time winner of the Compasso d'Oro, the most significant Italian prize in the field of industrial design. Many of his designs are exhibited in the MoMa in New York. In 2001, one year before his death, Achille Castiglioni received an honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Milano.
Alexander Cerchi is the commercial talent within the management. As the eldest son and strategical visionary he soon recognized the company's potential, and today takes the responsibility for the fast growth of the company.
Alfredo Cerchi was founder and managing director of the Lumen Lighting Nostraforma GmbH & Co KG until 2018. In 1972 the young designer and amateur architect established a company for electrotechnical goods, that has quickly built a solid reputation in the design marketplace.
The industrial designer Bernhard Osann was born in Augsburg, Bavaria, in 1979. Before his studies, he completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter and worked as a freelancer in this field for several years. In 2005 he began studying sculpture at the Wilhelm Wagenfeld School in Bremen. From 2008 to 2016 he finally studied industrial design at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg, from which he graduated with a diploma. Since then, Bernhard Osann has been working as a freelance industrial designer in his own design studio in Hamburg, mainly devoting himself to lighting and furniture.
When developing his products, Osann is passionate about exploring physical limits, working with geometric shapes and striving for unconventional solutions in order to create radically simplified design objects that appeal with minimalist aesthetics and functional dynamics.
This passion can be seen in the interior objects designed by Osann: for the Italian lighting label Nemo he designed lights such as the Bird table lamp or the Neo floor lamp, where a stable stand is guaranteed by perfectly balanced elements. His designs' sculptural aesthetics is owed to his studies of sculpture, whereby the phenomenon of balance and movable elements have a high priority.
Bernhard Osann's most important works include various lights for Nemo as well as the Watn Blech wall shelf for Moormann from 2013. His awards and nominations prove that Osann is already a fixture in the German design landscape: for example, he won the 2020 for the Neo lamp coveted Wallpaper Design Award, for the German Design Award he was in the finals as a "Newcomer Finalist" in 2020.
Carlo Colombo was born in 1967 in Carimate, in the Como region, Italy. After completing his architecture studies at the Polytechnique School of Milan in 1993, he founded his own studio in his home town and started working with many renowned Italian design companies. Particular highlights are collaborations with Artemide, Zanotta, Antonio Lupi, Penta, Oluce, Nemo and Cappellini.
Today, he is a worldwide active, versatile designer. In addition to his offices in Carimate and Milan, he has branch offices in Lugano, in Sao Paulo, Abu Dhabi and Beijing. From these places, he curates exhibitions, designs marketing strategies for companies, creates interior decoration and implements large construction projects. Special attention must be given to the Hong Kong Louvre Gallery and the construction of two towers in the city centre of Abu Dahbi. For his work, Colombo received many prizes. He was elected Designer of the Year for his Carlo Colombo products in Tokyo in 2004. In 2014 and 2015, he was awarded the coveted Red Dot Design Award in the category "Best of the Best". During the same year, he was also honoured with the iF Product Design Award.
In the field of interior design, Carlo Colombo does not only create exquisite furniture for the bathroom, the kitchen and the living room, but also pays attention to lighting. Carlo Colombo's light fixtures are characterized by a particular interaction between functionality and atmosphere. By combining high-quality materials, innovative details and a convenient handling, he creates light fixtures which appeal to the user's senses. Carlo Colombo's lights exude timeless elegance and create a magical light, achieving a sense of well-being for everyone. Particular attention must be given to his lights for Penta, such as the Bag Outdoor floor lamp which impresses with its high size on terraces and gardens. The Glo collection was also created by Carlo Colombo for Penta. Glo radiates pure elegance and value through its shiny glass shades.
Giancarlo Fassina was born in Milan in 1935 and spent most of his life in this city in northern Italy. After finishing school, Fassina studied architecture at the Politecnico di Milano. Then, he turned to industrial design and worked in various fields before he finally dedicated himself to designing light fixtures.
Together with Michele de Lucchi Fassina developed the world famous Tolomeo series for Artemide and was awarded the coveted Compasso d'Oro for it. He also designs light installations for museums. This field of work combines the designing of light fixtures and stylish space planning to produce a unique atmosphere, related with each exhibition's theme.
The light fixtures by Giancarlo Fassina have been manufactured in collaboration with renowned manufacturers, such as Luceplan and Artemide. His most famous work is the Tolomeo collection, the task light equipped with a spring system which offers flexibly positioned light. Today this successful collection comprises various desk lamps, floor lamps, wall lamps and ceiling lamps, as well as exterior lights for the terrace and balcony.
Javier Mariscal was born in Valencia in 1950 and at an early age he developed an affinity for drawing comics. From 1967 to 1970 he began studying philosophy in Valencia and then continued studying graphic design in Barcelona.
While he first tried to work as a painter and draftsman of underground comics, he became known in 1979 with his logo Bar-Cel-Ona. In 1980 he realized the interior of the Duplex Bar in Valencia in collaboration with Fernando Salas and designed the corresponding Duplex Stool. In 1981 he was invited by Ettore Sottsass (https://www.nostraforma.com/en/designer/ettore-sottsass.html) to show his postmodern designs in the "International Style" exhibition of the Memphis Group in Milan. Mariscal presented the Hilton Trolley and the Colón table there. In 1987 he designed a solo exhibition for the Center Georges-Pompidou in Paris. In 1988 he was allowed to develop the mascot for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and created the popular figure Cobi. Thus Mariscal achieved widespread popularity. In 1989 Javier Mariscal founded his own multidisciplinary studio Estudio Mariscal in Barcelona, where he worked with established designers and architects and developed over the years a wide range of corporate identities and corporate designs.
The Spaniard's style is colorful and characterized by a comic style. Characteristic Mariscal designs are, for example, the carrying vase Olé or the Garriri chair with the likeable Mickey Mouse ears. The Alexandra chair for the italian furniture brand Moroso and the children's furniture from the Magis Me Too collection also bears Mariscal's typical design signature.
The Spaniard, who was born in 1966 in Barcelona, studied industrial design at the Spanish art school Artes y Oficios Escuela. He concentrated his work on lighting design from the beginning of his career. He began in Lluis Porqueras' small lighting factory, located in the picturesque Pablo Nou district in Barcelona at the end of the eighties. Today this district's former factories and workshops have been transformed into lofts and studios by artists and designers. There Lluis Porqueras taught him the trade. In the following years, he has worked for numerous Spanish manufacturers, such as Marset and Santa & Cole. Joan Gaspar has worked as an artistic director for the great Spanish light manufacturer Marset since 1996 and exerts a strong influence on its product range. In addition to his activity for Marset, the designer founded his own design studio in Barcelona in 2002 where he develops light fixtures and furniture. He also teaches at the School of Design and Engineering Elisava.
Joan Gaspar is more interested in an object's history than in the final product itself. According to him, it is only possible to really know an object when its whole story is revealed, including the problems encountered during its development. Gaspar wants to create original objects from high-quality materials which are both aesthetical and well-thought through.
The designer likes to work with refined materials, such as wood, glass and textiles. The Mercer light series he developed for Marset in 2005 is a good example. The Mercer table lamp consists of a shade of blown glass behind which there is a strip of pleated textile. This combination creates a soft atmospheric light, some of which is directed downwards. Other lights by Joan Gaspar like the Cala, Djembé, Soho and TXL are also very popular.
Manuel Cerchi has grown up in the owned company. Together with his brothers he has not only represented the company since 2006, but above all he fosters and develops cooperation between the generations, that is characterized by the combination of traditional values and modern technological possibilities.
The French designer Marc Sadler was born in Austria in 1946. He studied industrial design at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, (ENSAD) in Paris. He has been living in Milan since the early 1970s.
Sadler is famous for his many creations in the field of industrial design and was awarded many international prizes for them. He started his career by designing the first skiing boots ever made of plastic and received instant recognition for them. Then he designed soles for Nike's and Reebok's sport shoes. The development of protective garments for the Dainese Company was another of his fields of activity. His legendary back protector for motorcyclists is exhibited at the MoMa in New York.
Together with renowned companies, Marc Sadler has also designed diverse lights which today count among the designer classics and have received many prizes. The arched light Twiggy by Foscarini, for example, is a popular choice for the illumination of tables or sitting areas and appeals with a clear formal language. Sadler has been awarded the famous Compasso d'Oro design prize twice for his designs: in 1995 for Modell Drop produced by the long established Italian company Flos and in 2001 for the Mite floor lamp, he created for Foscarini. Along his career, Marc Sadler worked with numerous other famous light manufacturers.
Marco Zanuso was a founding member of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI) in 1956 and served as its president from 1966 to 1969. As an architect Marco Zanuso participated in prestigious projects, including the Olivetti factory building in Buenos Aires and São Paulo and several IBM factory buildings in Segrate, Milan and Palomba. Furthermore he taught at the Milan Polytechnic from 1961 to 1991.
Michele de Lucchi has worked as an architect and designer since the 1970s. As a co-founder of the Memphis Group and advocate of "radical design", he has exerted a huge influence on the history of Italian and international design. Since the eighties, de Lucchi has worked as a product designer for companies producing designer lights and furniture, such as Artemide, FontanaArte and Kartell. One of his most successful creations is the Tolomeo table lamp, he designed with Giancarlo Fassina for Artemide.
De Lucchi was born in Ferrara in 1951 and studied architecture in Florence. Already while studying, he turned to "radical design" and founded the group Cavart with like-minded people. In the late 1970s he worked for the Studio Alchimia, a group opposing mass production and purely functional objects. Together with Ettore Sottsass, who was also active at the Studio Alchimia, de Lucchi created the Memphis Group in 1981. It followed similar principles, and some of its coloured, unconventionally shaped objects are now iconic.
As a product designer, Michele de Lucchi has worked for Olivetti, Bodum, FontanaArte, Artemide and others. He has been awarded numerous significant design prizes like the IF Design Award, the Design Plus and the Compasso d'Oro, for his work. His works are exhibited in major international museum like the Centre Pompidou in Paris and in the Neues Museum in Berlin.
De Lucchi's wide-ranging work includes buildings, pieces of furniture and household utensils of every kind. Michele de Lucchi has designed remarkable lights for Artemide and FontanaArte, especially the Artemide Tolomeo desk-light he developed with Giancarlo Fassina in 1987. Today it is one of the most popular desk-lights ever and one of the designer's favourites. Michele de Lucchi's lights and pieces of furniture are functional and feature aesthetical shapes. High-quality materials and a well-thought-through shaps turn his creations into timeless designer classics.
The architect and designer Patricia Urquiola was born in Oviedo in 1961. She studied at the Facultad de Arquitectura in Madrid from 1979 and later at the Polytechnic University of Milan where she wrote her thesis in 1989 under the direction of Achille Castiglioni. She became the assistent of Castiglioni and Bettinelli in Paris. Between 1990 and 1996, Urquiola was the Product-Development Director at De Padova. During this time she designed her first creation. Later she specialized in interior design for public spaces and worked together with the architects de Renzio and Ramerino. She led a managerial position at Lissoni Associati before founding her own studio in Milan in 2001.
Urquiola's style stands for a creative approach to design elements and for uncommon combinations of styles and materials. It is obvious when looking at Smock , her famous seat characterized by a formal language combining luxurious opulence with a clear basic concept. The Caboche suspensions produced by Foscarini resemble bead bracelets and are her best-known designer lights. Her work is displayed in famous museums like the MoMa in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Vitra Design Museum in Basel. She was awarded numerous design prizes and is now a jury member within the field of design. She received the Orden de Isabel la Católica by the Spanish King Juan Carlos I and was awarded the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes (Golden Medal of Merit in the Arts) by the Spanish government.
The name Philippe Starck is well-known to the general public. The multi-talented artist created designs for toothbrushes, kitchen ware, furniture, accessories for the bathroom, technical devices, cars, wind turbines, yachts and hotels.
Starck was born in Paris in 1949 and studied there at the Ecole Camondo, a renowned private school for design and architecture. In 1965 he won a competition for the furniture design. In 1968 he founded a company specializing in the manufacture of inflatable objects, which attracted the attention of the public. In 1971 he was Art Director at Pierre Cardin and designed the interiors for diverse night clubs. In 1980 he founded the company Starck Products. In 1982 he decorated François Mitterrand's private apartments at the Elysée Palast. Philippe Starck often collaborates with famous brands like Alessi, Driade and Flos.
Philippe Starck feels committed to the principle of reduction, the ethic of omission. He avoids any unnecessary ornament. His designs are not solely functional. His furnishing concepts and objects aim at making people's lives better and awaking their emotions. Simple and one-of-a-kind at the same time, they have to meet ethical and environment-friendly demands. His concept of "democratic design" implies that accurately designed products should be produced industrially to be affordable for anyone.
The famous citrus-squeezer Starck designed for Alessi in 1990 possesses a marked sculptural character with a characteristic swung shape. Philippe Starck's chair Louis Ghost by Kartell, inspired by the Louis Quinze style is transparent, durable and stackable. Light and elegant, it is reminiscent of the French traditional furniture under the French kings. Another new and original interpretation is the light collection Gun by Philippe Starck for the Italian manufacturer Flos, which combines sculptural weapon replicas with traditional light shades.
Marco Zanuso, born 1916 in Milan, studied architecture at the famous Politecnico di Milano from 1935 to 1939. From 1945 he worked as an independent designer, architect and city planner in his own design studio. From 1946 to 1947 he worked as an editor for the architecture magazine Domus and until 1949 for the magazine Casabella. For the Arflex company founded by Pirelli Zanuso devoted himself 1948 to the development of upholstered furniture made of the innovative latex foam material and its industrial manufacturing processes. This resulted in some of his first furniture designs for Arflex, such as the Antropus (1949) and Lady (1951) armchairs and the Triennale sofa. The Lady armchair won the first price of the Grand Prix of the Triennale di Milano and is considered a furniture classic. The furniture manufacturer Zanotta still produces the timeless and extremely comfortable luxury armchair Maggiolina with high-quality leather cover, which Marco Zanuso created in 1947.
From 1958 to 1977 the German industrial designer Richard Sapper worked with Marco Zanuso and together they designed some innovative and successful furniture, lights and electronic devices, including for the manufacturers Brionvega and Siemens. Their outstanding projects include the Lambda chair for Gavina (1959-1964) made of stamped steel, the stackable children's chair 4999 / S made of polyethylene for Kartell (1961-1964), the iconic hinged radio cube TS502 for Brionvega (1964) or the TV sets Doney, Algol and Black Box (1964-1969).
Through his experiments with innovative materials and industrial manufacturing methods, Marco Zanuso secured himself a prominent place in the history of italian design and is considered as one of the fathers of italian industrial design. Many of his works are now exhibited in museums such as the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) or the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein.