Lampadaire Titania Terra Postmoderne par Alberto Meda et Paolo Rizzatto pour Luceplan, Italie

Né à Côme en 1945, le designer italien Alberto Meda a étudié l'ingénierie mécanique à la Poltecnico di Milano, d’où il obtint son diplôme en 1969. Suite à cette formation rationnelle, naissent des designs clairs, précis et fonctionnels, qui attirent l’attention d’une grande variété de marques de design.

De 1972 à 1979, Alberto Meda a été le directeur technique de Kartell, où il a supervisé la production de mobilier et d’équipement. Durant ces années, il a l’opportunité de travailler aux côtés d’un grand nombre de designers de luminaires de renom, dont les frères Castiglioni, Richard Sapper et Marco Zanuso.

Il est proche de plusieurs défenseurs de design radical, tels que Franco Raggi, Daniela Puppa et Denis Santachiara, qui l’encouragent à déplacer son centre d’intérêt de la production au design. Depuis 1970, Roberto Meda travaille en tant que designer freelance avec succès pour des clients comme Alfa Romeo, Alias, Alessi, Cinelli, Colombo Design, Ideal Standard, Luceplan, Legrand, Mandarina Duck, Omron Japan, Philips, Olivetti, et Vitra.

En 1994, l’esthétique minimaliste d’Alberto Meda retient l’attention du PDG de Vitra Rolf Fehlbaum, qui commande à Alberto Meda une chaise, aujourd’hui connue sous le nom de la Meda Chair (1996-98). La collaboration est toujours en cours, et Meda a apporté une contribution significative au succès de la collection Office de Vitra.

Bien que Alberto Meda soit un designer versatile qui transgresse les genres, ses designs ont tendance à partager une aura scientifique. Ses pièces d’exception incluent Light-Light Chair (1984-87) et Soft-Light Chair (1989) pour Alias; Lola Lamp (1987) et Titania Lamp (1989) pour Luceplan; Tondo Watch pour Alessi (2004); Honeycomb Folding Chair pour Kartell (2008); et Physix Task Chair pour Vitra (2012).

Les travaux d’Alberto Meda ont été exposés dans les musées autour du monde comme au MoMa de New York, au Vitra Design Museum, et au Triennale de Milan. Il a été récompensé par le Compasso d’Oro (1989, 1994, 2008, 2011), et en 2005, la London’s Royal Society pour l’Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA) l’a nommé Honorary Royal Designer for Industry.

Alberto Meda vit et travaille à Milan.

With work that spans furniture, graphics, public and private interiors, exhibitions, renovations, and, most prolifically, lighting, Milanese designer-entrepreneur Paolo Rizzatto is most saliently remembered as the founder of Luceplan, the Italian lighting brand qua spiritual successor to Gino Sarfatti’s pioneering Arteluce , which, in 1974, was absorbed into Flos. 

Born in Milan in 1941, Rizzatto attended his hometown technical university—Politecnico di Milano—whose alumni list includes Marco Zanuso Jr., Les frères Castiglioni, ,Tito Agnoli, , , and Patricia Urquiola. After graduating in 1965, Rizzatto went to work for lighting company Arteluce, for whom he designed his tour-de-force, swiveling, gravity-defying Mod 265 Wall Lamp (1973), which featured 360-degree rotation for aiming light in any direction. Flos still produces it today. 

In 1968, Rizzatto laid the groundwork for his eponymous architectural studio; in 1972 he unveiled his first architectural project, Segrate Daycare Center. He maintained a steady architectural output into the following decades, as he further cultivated his sensibility for smaller-scale design, often returning to light fixtures, especially for workspaces. He soon consolidated his efforts in this area, alongside Gino Sarfetti’s son Ricardo, with the founding of Luceplan in 1978. The sleek, lightweight-aluminum D7 Light (1981), created by Rizzatto in collaboration with Sandro Colbertaldo for Luceplan, garnered a Compasso d’ Oro in 1981. 

Other award-winning designs by Rizzatto for Luceplan include the Berenice Desk Lamp (1987), developed in cooperation with Alberto Meda; the futuristic-looking Lola Floor Light (1989); the maritime-flavored Metropoli Wall Light (1994); the delicately economic Mix LED Desk Lamp (2005); and the diamond-like Hope family of refracting lights (2011), designed alongside Argentinian designer Francisco Gomez Pas. Rizzatto’s immensely popular Constanza (1986) and Constanzina (1992) series can be found in New York’s Museum of Modern Art collection. 

Never one to leave a stone unturned, Rizzatto has frequently engaged the world of furniture design, and, in the past decades, has cultivated a portfolio which includes tables, seating, and accessories for Artemide, Cassina, Danese, Knoll Inc. / Knoll International, Kartell, Molteni, Philips, Poltrona Frau, and Thonet, among others. Alongside his frenetic design work, Rizzatto has also held lecturing positions at the Architecture Institute of Moscow, Columbia University of New York, IUAV in Venice, and his alma matter, the Milan Polytechnic University.