ARFLEX - Key Persons
In 1993 he graduated in Architecture at Milan Polytechnic, but since 1991 he had already made contact with Giulio Cappellini, for whom he designed his first piece in 1992: the Kyoto bed, presented at the Salone del Mobile in Milan the same year. From this time on Colombo's work as a designer flowed into hundreds of projects in collaboration with the leading firms in the sector: Antonio Lupi, arflex, Artemide, BYografia, Cappellini, DePadova, Emmemobili, EMU, F.lli Guzzini, Flou, Franke, Fusital, iGuzzini, IOC, Paola Lenti, Levi's, Mood-Flexform, Moroso, Nube, Oluce, Penta, Poliform, Poltrona Frau, Riva 1920, Rugiano, Sabattini, Serralunga, Tecno, Teuco, Varenna, Zanotta.
In 2004 Colombo was named Designer of the Year in Tokyo. Between 2005 and 2011 he received the International Design Award four times from Elle Décor and he won prizes for his projects from Gioia Casa and MD Magazine. In 2009 he was one of the winners of the Good Design Award presented by the European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum. A sort of ambassador of Italian design to the world,
he gives lectures and conferences in Israel, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, Ukraine, Australia, Russia, Britain, Brazil and China.
Apart from product and furniture design, Colombo undertakes business and marketing promotion for companies, works on graphic design, curates exhibitions, works as consultant and art director (since 2006 for arflex and since 2008 for Stratex). Entrepreneurs were among the first clients for the houses he designed, but they soon commissioned showrooms, sales outlets and production facilities, like the Poliform Lab, opened in 2011 in the heart of Brianza.
Colombo's work as a designer, initially focused on product and interior design, has been progressively extended to the construction sector in Italy and abroad. In 2009 he won an international competition for the design of two multi-functional towers in Abu Dhabi and his renewed interest in architecture has found scope in teaching in China, where he has been lecturing on design since 2011 at the De Tao Masters Academy in Beijing.
Job Titles:
- Graphic Designer, Poster Designer and Illustrator ( Parma 1899 - Milan 1984 )
Delfino armchair by Erberto Carboni is a significant example of the so-called "organic" furniture, which develops in the 1950s and draws inspiration from the forms of nature.
Graduated in architecture at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Parma (in 1921, earning an honorary diploma), he immediately started working as a graphic designer, opening a studio in his hometown (he developed advertising material for some local companies).
He also began to work as an illustrator, collaborating with some publishing houses in setting up the iconography of volumes of consumer fiction and beginning to work with some magazines, such as "Lidel", "Novella", "Dramma", "Emporium", "Le Grandi Firme".
In 1932 he moved to Milan, where he came into contact with Studio Boggeri and Olivetti Advertising and Development Office.
In short, he became an appreciated stand designer for exhibition pavilions within cultural and trade fair exhibitions: in the Thirties, there were the graphic concepts for the Italian Air Show at the Triennale di Milano (1934), for the International Expo in Paris (1936) and for the stands for Faesite and Montecatini at the Milan Fair (1940).
He did not stop, however, his activity in periodic illustration, collaborating with "L'Ufficio Moderno" (with other graphic designers of this magazine he founded "Amici della Razionalizzazione" Group), "La Lettura", "La Rivista illustrata del Popolo d'Italia", "Natura", "Snia Viscosa".
After the war, he continued his activity as a trade fair graphic designer, in particular at the Milan Fair (pavilion for the Italian Radio, 1950; exhibition of the chemist products Montecatini, 1950; commemorative setting for the 50th anniversary of the death of Giuseppe Verdi, 1951; Montecatini pavilion, 1952; Rai-Tv stand, 1952 and 1954, etc.).
Also noteworthy is the setting up of pavilion Italia 61 in Turin (1961), for the centenary of the Unification of Italy. Between the second half of the 1930s and the 1960s, Carboni also set up the advertising campaigns of many famous companies, often marking their growth or affirmation on the market. We remember, in particular, the campaigns for Olivetti (1935), Shell (1937), Motta (1939), Rai-Tv (since 1948), Barilla, Bertolli (since 1952) and Pavesi (since 1958).
The unique design and the wide modularity still make Marenco sofa a must of contemporary furniture.