Fratelli Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni
Pier Giacomo Castiglioni was born in Milan in 1913.
He graduated in Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1937. After graduating, he started working with Luigi Caccia Dominioni, and his brother Livio, and in 1939 they together created the first ever radio apparatus made from plastic materials. Immediately after the war, he began to work closely with Achille. Their interests included Town Planning, Architecture and Design, and they had varied and intensive professional activities, actively participating in international cultural life: congresses, conferences and round tables, with particular regard to Industrial Design. In 1956, he was one of the founders of the ADI (Association of Industrial Design). His varied interests also brought Pier Giacomo Castiglioni into the field of teaching. From 1958 to 1968, he was professor of ‘Architectonic Composition’ in the Faculty of Architecture, at the Polytechnic University of Milan. He received numerous awards, including: five Compasso d’Oro awards, Gran Premi of the Milan Triennale, he won many international competitions, and many of his works are exhibited in Museums all over the world, including in MoMA in New York. He is well known on an international level, for his objects in the field of lighting and furnishing, as well as for his spectacular exhibition installations. He died in Milan in 1968.
Achille Castiglioni was born in Milan in 1918.
He graduated in Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1944.
As early as 1940, he dedicated himself to testing industrial production, together with his brothers Livio and Pier Giacomo. Immediately after the war, he began to work closely with Pier Giacomo. Their interests included Town Planning, Architecture and Design (carrying out research on shapes, techniques and new materials, aimed at developing an integral design process), and they had varied and intensive professional activities, actively participating in international cultural life: congresses, conferences and round tables, with particular regard paid to Industrial Design. In 1956, he was one of the founders of the ADI (Association of Industrial Design). His varied interests also brought Achille Castiglioni into the field of teaching. From 1969 to 1993, he was professor of ‘Industrial Design’ first in the Faculty of Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Turin, and then in Milan. He received numerous awards, including: nine Compasso d’Oro awards, Gran Premi of the Milan Triennale, he won many international competitions, was made Honorary Member of the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry of the Royal Society of Art (London), awarded an Honorary Degree from the Royal College of Art (London), awarded an Honorary Degree in Industrial Design from the Polytechnic University of Milan. Many of his works are exhibited in Museums all over the world and MoMA in New York features fourteen of his works. Between 1984 and 1986, an exhibition entirely dedicated to his works began in Vienna, and was shown in major European museums. On the occasion of the ‘Primavera del Design’ award, in 1995 a personal exhibition was held in Barcelona, then shown all over the world, until 1998. He is well known on an international level, for his objects in the field of lighting and furnishing, as well as for his spectacular exhibition installations. He died in Milan in 2002.