About Angelo Mangiarotti

In 1948 Angelo Mangiarotti obtained a degree in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano. After a brief but intense experience in the United States (in 1953 and 1954), Mangiarotti returned to his home city to open his own design studio with fellow architect Bruno Morassutti in 1955. Their aim was to create industrial design products and oversee the redevelopment, restoration and construction of residential and public buildings. During his stay in the U.S., Mangiarotti came into contact with important names on the international scene such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe and Konrad Wachsmann. In the academic year 1963-1964 he obtained a chair at the Istituto Superiore di Disegno Industriale in Venice and two years later he made one of his most famous industrial design products: the Lesbo lamp, which complemented its “sister” lamp Sappho. Both were made of blown glass for Artemide, the Italian furniture and lighting company. Throughout the years he kept teaching while still designing. He devoted particular attention to industrial production problems and pre-fabrication processes (basic themes of Life Cycle Assessment) in order to determine the environmental impact of the production of his creations. Some of Mangiarotti’s other notable industrial design works include the “Secticon” clock from 1956, the glass products he crafted for Knoll, the T-table for Enrico Baleri’s Baleri Italia and his wooden furnishings for Cassina. His works for the Italian company Vistosi are also famous, such as the Giogali chandelier designed in 1967, one of the artist’s most memorable works. Angelo Mangiarotti was ninety-one years old when he died in Milan; after cremation, his ashes rested in the columbarium at the Cimitero Maggiore in Milan.