ACHILLE CASTIGLIONI (1918 - 2002) was a Milanese designer and architect who sought to inject personality into all of his work, and found deep inspiration in everyday objects. A legend of Italian mid-century modernism, he created iconic, universally loved table lamps, chairs and other lighting and furniture with his likeminded brothers during the postwar years.

Castiglioni studied the classics at Liceo Classico Giuseppe Parini, art at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, and finally architecture and design at the Polytechnic University of Milan. After graduating in 1944, Castiglioni began working with his brothers, Pier Giacomo and Livio, at the studio they cofounded with classmate Luigi Caccia Dominioni.

Castiglioni won Italy’s highest award for industrial design — the Compasso d’Oro — seven times, and the Museum of Modern Art was home to his first individual retrospective in the United States. Castiglioni later taught at the Polytechnic University of Turin and at Polytechnic in Milan.

Castiglioni’s designs remain timeless. Some of them can be found in Tokyo’s Living Design Center Ozone, the Triennale di Milano and the Hangaram Art Museum at the Seoul Arts Center.

(Photo Credit: Lumens; Source: 1st Dibs)