With a forceful synergic relationship between design and production, FLEXFORM has a long history of fertile interaction with more than one generation of great designers. Since the 1960s the company has worked with outstanding talents: Asnago-Vender, Sergio Asti, Cini Boeri, Joe Colombo, Paolo Nava, Rodolfo Bonetto, Gigi Radice, Guido Rosati, Carlo Colombo, Giulio Manzoni. Of all the names, however, for forty years Antonio Citterio has been the designer who has contributed most to write the history of the firm and to translate its values into objects, coordinating all the collections. An architect, director, deus ex machina, Citterio is the designer who has given a soul to the product. With a design approach that starts with study of the space that surrounds objects, and of the architecture in which that space is inserted, Antonio Citterio has an overall project vision ranging from the large to the small scale. As a designer he reasons in terms of product families, not individual items. Today he is a precious counterpart, in dialogue with the ongoing enlightened initiative of the company, fostering a path of sharing and exchange.

"Talking about my relationship with Flexform means talking about a group of friends who have shared visions and experiences. It also means talking about a big part of my life, given the fact that we have been getting together for over forty years." Antonio Citterio

 

Antonio Citterio

Antonio Citterio was born in 1950 in Meda, Italy.

He opened his design studio in 1972 and received his Architecture degree from Polytechnic University of Milan in 1975. From 1987 to1996, he partnered with Terry Dwan and together they designed buildings in Europe and Japan. In 2000, he and Patricia Viel established an international architectural and interior design studio. Working with a qualified network of specialized consultants the studio develops complex projects of all sizes. Antonio Citterio currently partners with Italian and international companies in the field of industrial design. In 1987 and again in 1994, he was awarded the ADI [Association for Industrial Design] Compasso d’Oro. From 2006 to 2016 he was on the architectural design faculty at the Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio (Switzerland). In 2008 he was named an Honorary “Royal Designer for Industry” by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce in London.

Daniel Libeskind

An international figure in architecture and urban design, the architect Daniel Libeskind is renowned

for his ability to evoke cultural memory in buildings of equilibrium-defying contemporaneity. Informed by a deep commitment to music, philosophy, and literature, Mr. Libeskind aims to create architecture that is resonant, original, and sustainable. Born in Lód’z, Poland, in 1946, Mr. Libeskind immigrated to the United States as a teenager. Daniel Libeskind established his architectural studio in Berlin, Germany, in 1989 after winning the competition to build the Jewish Museum in Berlin. In February 2003, Studio Libeskind moved its headquarters from Berlin to New York City when Daniel Libeskind was selected as the master planner for the World Trade Center redevelopment. Daniel Libeskind’s practice is involved in designing and realizing a diverse array of urban, cultural and commercial projects internationally. The Studio has completed buildings that range from museums and concert halls to convention centers, university buildings, hotels, shopping centers and residential towers. As Principal Design Architect for Studio Libeskind , Mr. Libeskind speaks widely on the art of architecture in universities and professional summits. His architecture and ideas have been the subject of many articles and exhibitions, influencing the field of architecture and the development of cities and culture. Mr. Libeskind lives in New York with his wife and business partner, Nina Libeskind.

Joe Colombo

Tube chair, designed by Joe Colombo in 1969, has been produced and sold by FLEXFORM from 1969 to 197

6.

After his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brera (Milan), in the early ‘50s he became part of the nuclear painting movement with Enrico Baj. Shortly thereafter, at the beginning of the ‘60s, he turned his attention to architecture and interior design and started working as a product developer. Colombo’s works are highly distinguishable not only for the great attention paid to materials, but also for their extreme flexibility and versatility. The Tube Chair and the Multi Chair are excellent proof of this, as they are very simple and modular, and lend themselves to infinite ways of being used. Colombo’s creativity is also expressed through the design of expo fair booths, as well as in several other design pieces like cars, watches, glasses and much more.
His latest pieces are multifunctional, residential and interior design projects where Colombo makes all conventional pieces of furniture redundant, developing a new concept able to offer the best comfort and the highest functionality.
The impressive and stunning work of Joe Colombo, who died in 1971 on the day of his forty-first birthday, is the fruit of a decade of work characterized by an obsessive search for new ideas and projects.

Mario Asnago | Claudio Vender

Asnago & Vender

Designed for Flexform the Moka chair, the Piano bed and nightstand (1985)

Mario Asnago
Barlassina (MI) 03.25.1896 - Monza 01.28.1981

Claudio Vender
Milano 03.20.1904 – Saronno 09.23.1986

Both Mario and Claudio received Architecture Certification at the Bologna Institute of Fine Arts in 1922. The first joint projects were for competitions, among which the Como War Memorial. In 1928, after obtaining the right to practice as architects, together they opened the Studio Asnago-Vender Architetti. They were mostly involved in town planning architecture (schools - residence - churches...). Among the objects designed for interiors were tables and chairs with the characteristic X. The slender structure represents the architectural philosophy of the two designers: surfaces are wide but spaced out with empty spaces that point out the discreet presence of the material, which does not take away lightness, but only part of the stiff evenness that characterizes their interiors. After Asnago's retirement in 1971, Vender continued the business with his son Mario and Mario Moganti.

Carlo Colombo

Carlo Colombo designed for Flexform in 2013 the products Clarke, Edmond and Isabel.

Carlo Colombo is considered one of the most important Italian architects and designers. From the very start, he designed for top-level brands. From that moment, he has been collaborating with hundreds of the most important brands of Italian design and Made in Italy. In addition to designing products and furniture, Colombo also collaborates with companies on marketing strategies, graphic designs and designing exhibits; he also works as a consultant and art director. His design work initially concentrated on interiors, and progressively extended to the building sector, in Italy and abroad. In 2004, he won the title of Designer of the Year; in 2009, he won an international competition for designing the two poly-functional towers in Abu Dhabi and in 2011 taught design at the De Tao Masters Academy in Beijing, China. Among his many recognitions are the Elle Décor International Design Award (2005, 2008, 2010, 2011), the Good Design Award from the European Centre for Architecture Art Design (2009), and The Chicago Athenaeum, the Red Dot Design Award (2012 and 2014), the Interior Innovation Award and the iF design award with Teuco. Today the firm designs on a large scale throughout the world, from interior design to architecture.

Cini Boeri

A signature for Flexform in 70s the little Maxi chair, no longer in production
 

A graduate of Milan’s Polytechnic University in 1951, after an internship at Giò Ponti’s firm, she started a long collaboration with Marco Zanuso. She started her own professional activity in 1963, doing civil architecture and industrial design. In Italy and abroad she designed single-family homes, apartments, museum exhibits, offices and shops, dedicating great attention to the study of functionality of space and the psychological relationship between man and the environment. In the area of industrial design, she has specialized in designing elements for furnishing and components for building. Various creations of hers are present in museums and international expositions. She has lectured and taught at various Italian and international institutions and universities, including Berkeley, Barcellona, at the Nucleo del Deseno Industrial di Sao Paulo, at the College of Architecture in Rio de Janeiro, at the Cranbrook School of Detroit, at the Southern California Institute of Architecture of Vico Marcote (CH), at the Pacific Design Center and at UCLA in Los Angeles, at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, University of Italian Switzerland.
In `81 '83 at the Faculty of Architecture at the Milan Polytechnic, she held courses of “architectural design” and “industrial design and furniture”.
She is a member of the Board of Directors of the XVI Triennale in Milan.
She has participated in many juries for international competitions and received numerous international prizes. 
She was nominated as an honorary member of ADI, 2012.

Giulio Manzoni

Giulio Manzoni in 1995 designed Spider armchair.

Born in 1952, he graduated with honors in architecture from the Milan Polytechnic. He has collaborated with various institutions including the University of Milan, the University of Pavia, the Venice Biennale, the Comprensorio 8 in Como, the Intercomunale of Pordenone, the Casino of Campione and he collaborates with important Italian and foreign companies in the furniture sector. Winner of the Leonardo Prize from the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan with the “Riletto”, and of the Professional Design Award in Valencia. Holder of numerous Italian and European patents for inventions, he works prevalently in the field of industrial design, with special attention to the study of poly-functional products and new technologies.

Guido Rosati

Designed the Winny sofa for Flexform in 1999.

Born in Abruzzo, he moved to Rome in 1970.After his studies in architecture, he dedicated himself to the world of design, where he started experimenting with techniques related to the development of multifunctional furniture.
From the ‘70s to the ‘90s he created several innovative lamps. At the same time, he also designed sofas. In recent years, he has collaborated with leading companies in the upholstered furniture world, creating sofa beds. His creative periods have alternated with experiences in other various fields of the design world, such as the creation of hydro-massage bath tubs, tubs with an esthetic component that became a trend.
Currently, he is studying the relationship and the effects between product development and the global market.

Paolo Nava

Between 1979 and 1982, his work with Antonio Citterio included Doralice, Magister, Pasodoble, and Ug

omaria. 

Paolo Nava was born in Seregno in 1943; he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture, Milan Polytechnic, and attended the Upper Course in Industrial Design in Florence, qualifying in 1966. He completed his training in England, working with industrial design studios. In 1972 he founded the Citterio & Nava studio with Antonio Citterio, drawing together some iconic products of Italian design. From 1982 on, Paolo Nava autonomously continues in his studio/atelier the activity of designer, focusing on the design for products and furnishings for many prestigious Italian and international brands.
In the projects of Paolo Nava, the continuous search is underscored for possible dialogue between his own poetic vision and the concrete industrial and productive needs, through a personal conceptual approach regarding the home, generating a profound transformation of use, building new relationships between materials and technologies where the shape of its objects is often only the natural consequence of a precise design process.
The Paolo Nava design studio has to its credit the development of numerous products for the furniture industry with particular attention to the world of kitchens. The activity of the firm extends to the design of consumer products, to exhibitions and communication. 
Paolo Nava is frequently invited to lecture and teach in many countries. The firm, over the course of its activity, has won numerous international design awards and recognition.

Eva

Rodolfo Bonetto

Designed the Boomerang Chair in 1968 for Flexform. Today no longer in production.

A singular figure in the panorama of Italian design of the last thirty years, Rodolfo Bonetto (1929-1991), abandoned a successful career as a jazz drummer with the famous “Italian Sextet” to dedicate himself to the new profession.
Self-taught, a feature not common on the Italian scene, he was so oriented toward design practice as to provide a considerable contribution to the teaching of industrial design at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm, and later at the ISIA in Rome.
Endowed with great talent and taste as well as an ability in technical drawing, he began working as a collaborator for the Veglia Borletti, drawing instruments for cars (a great passion: from those years come the first sketches of bodies for Vignale, Viotti and Boneschi). He then went on to work in many different industrial fields, those in which one would not normally consider – essential – the intervention of the designer: designing appliances, clocks, telephones, electronic computers, ski boots, surgical lasers, machine tools, lamps…
Of all these types, it was always the technical component that moved him most, a peculiarity that distinguishes him from the majority of Italian designers, who are traditionally closer to the world of furnishings. His relationship with Olivetti was the most intense and professionally stimulating: for the headquarters in Ivrea, he designed complex machine tools that modified the appearance of factory environment. Equally important was the collaboration with Fiat, for whom he drew many successful car interiors and which are today the historical heritage of the brand Bonetto Design.
He was awarded eight Golden Compasses, the last of which to his professional career. He was twice President of ADI (Industrial Design Association) and president of the Icsid (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design). He s recognized as one of the founding fathers of Italian design.

Sergio Asti

In the '70 designed Rolls sofa. Today out of collection.

After a degree in architecture at the Milan Polytechnic, he trained for the profession in the Milan of the ‘50s and was an assistant professor of interior design in architecture (1953-1958).
In the area of Industrial Design in the ‘50s, he was one of the first to deal with this problem. He is among the founders of ADI of which he is currently an honorary member. He was part of the various Executive Committees and Working Boards of the same association. He has taught Industrial Design at the 
Istituto Superiore d’Arte of Venice and abroad at the Experimental Insitute of Shizuoka in Japan. He has held numerous conferences and participated in Round Table discussions in Italy and abroad, especially in France, Germany, Portugal, the United States, Japan, China, India and Thailand. He participated in numerous juries for architectural and industrial design competitions in Italy and abroad. Many objects designed by Sergio Asti are present in collections of the most important museums and in private collections in italy and abroad. He has received important recognition on various occasions: Triennale of Milano, Compasso d'Oro, MoMA in New York, Philadelphia Museum, Bienale Industrijskega Oblikovanja inLubiana, and received prizes abroad in France and Japan. He has held many personal shows as well as collective shows in Italy, Canada, the United States, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Brazil and France.

GABRIELE E OSCAR BURATTI DESIGN

Gabriele Buratti, architect and adjunct professor of interior design at the Polyt

echnic University of Milan  School of Design (2003-2010), and Oscar Buratti, architect, founded the BURATTI ARCHITETTI architecture and design studio.  The studio engages in projects of differing scales, from the architecture of buildings and urban areas to interiors, from the design of furniture and objects to exhibitions and showrooms, in an extraordinary and varied professional landscape that features intertwining themes, places and typologies, companies and people, materials and workmanship. Their design work includes residential, commercial and industrial buildings, architectural interventions in historic centers and renovation of building complexes, villas and the interiors of offices, homes, shops and showrooms in Italy and abroad. Their aim is to combine culture and professional specialization, experimentation and technique, original visions and product quality.

Antonio Citterio Paolo Nava

ANTONIO CITTERIO

Antonio Citterio was born in 1950 in Meda, Italy. He opened his design studio in 1972 and received his Architecture degree from Polytechnic University of Milan in 1975. From 1987 to1996, he partnered with Terry Dwan and together they designed buildings in Europe and Japan. In 2000, he and Patricia Viel established an international architectural and interior design studio. Working with a qualified network of specialized consultants the studio develops complex projects of all sizes. Antonio Citterio currently partners with Italian and international companies in the field of industrial design. In 1987 and again in 1994, he was awarded the ADI [Association for Industrial Design] Compasso d’Oro. From 2006 to 2016 he was on the architectural design faculty at the Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio (Switzerland). In 2008 he was named an Honorary “Royal Designer for Industry” by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce in London.

PAOLO NAVA

Between 1979 and 1982, his work with Antonio Citterio included Doralice, Magister, Pasodoble, and Ugomaria. Paolo Nava was born in Seregno in 1943; he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture, Milan Polytechnic, and attended the Upper Course in Industrial Design in Florence, qualifying in 1966. He completed his training in England, working with industrial design studios.
 In 1972 he founded the Citterio & Nava studio with Antonio Citterio, drawing together some iconic products of Italian design. From 1982 on, Paolo Nava autonomously continues in his studio/atelier the activity of designer, focusing on the design for products and furnishings for many prestigious Italian and international brands.
In the projects of Paolo Nava, the continuous search is underscored for possible dialogue between his own poetic vision and the concrete industrial and productive needs, through a personal conceptual approach regarding the home, generating a profound transformation of use, building new relationships between materials and technologies where the shape of its objects is often only the natural consequence of a precise design process.
The Paolo Nava design studio has to its credit the development of numerous products for the furniture industry with particular attention to the world of kitchens. The activity of the firm extends to the design of consumer products, to exhibitions and communication. Paolo Nava is frequently invited to lecture and teach in many countries. The firm, over the course of its activity, has won numerous international design awards and recognition.

Christophe Pillet

Born in Montargis, France in 1959, Christophe Pillet lives and works in Paris. After graduating from the elite F

rench National School of Fine Arts of Nice in 1985, he completed his studies at the Domus Academy in Milan, where he worked with Michele De Lucchi, Carlotta de Bevilacqua and Martine Bedin. He returned to Paris where he practiced alongside Philippe Starck for several years before opening his own studio. Named ‘Designer of the Year’ at the Paris furniture show in 1994, he has received many international awards, including the Red Dot Design Award, the Wallpaper Design Award and the Prix d’Excellence. According to Pillet, lucidity of expression and the search for simplicity are the guiding principles in his work. His complete mastery of design and innate sense of elegance have ensured his place among the most acclaimed French designers in the world, thanks to many projects that range from product design to hotels and boutiques, all bearing his unmistakable hallmark style. His work for prominent fashion and design brands is imbued with his recognizable flair, a visionary fusion of functionality and sensuality. In 2020 he designed the Echoes, First Steps and Any Day products for Flexform.

Patrick Norguet

Thanks to his keen observation of the context, his analytical approach to constraints and his respect for usage, he h

as been able to build solid relationships with manufacturers and numerous clients.

After completing his design studies at ESDI, Patrick Norguet joined Louis Vuitton and the fashion world. These experiences allowed him to understand the identity of brands and how to highlight them. The design of Renault's event stands allowed him to refine and apply his synthesis skills to ephemeral architecture.

He quickly broadened his design palette and became interested in technological innovations in the field of furniture. In 2000, his Rainbow Chair, noticed and produced by Giulio Cappellini, gave him a visibility that quickly spread thanks to the international media. He then opened his workshop in Paris.

Italian companies immediately noticed his rigor and his total commitment to his projects. Passionate about industrial processes, he adapted his style to excellent craftsmanship, optimizing the efficiency of production methods. His first furniture collections for Bernhardt, Artifort, or the French companies Alki and Tolix have validated and established his presence in international trade shows. In 2010, the design of a McDonald's restaurant in France gradually led to a collaboration with McDonald's in the USA.

Patrick Norguet effortlessly masters all scales and lends his expertise to manufacturers and producers of objects, lamps and furniture, all while developing the new hotel concept of the Okko chain in France in 2014. He has become an iconic figure in French design.

Alias, Arflex, Artemide, Cassina, Emu, Ethimo, Glass Italia, Kristalia, Lea Ceramica, Pedrali, Glass Italia, de Padova, and Tacchini have been quick to recognize the talent and authority of Patrick Norguet who is fully involved in the production process and strives to create sustainable collections.

From the drawing board to industrial tools and communication, Patrick Norguet has demonstrated the place and responsibility of the designer as an agent of change in services and lifestyles.