Pier Giacomo Castiglioni (22 April 1913–27 November 1968) was an Italian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

Early life and education

Designers-a-and-p-g-castiglioni-flos-00-header-desk-1440x874-2

Castiglioni was born on 22 April 1913 in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, in

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

in northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He was the second son of the sculptor

Giannino Castiglioni Giannino Castiglioni (4 May 1884 – 27 August 1971) was an Italian sculptor and medallist. He worked mostly in monumental and funerary sculpture; his style was representational, and far from the modernist and avant-garde trends of the earl ...

and his wife Livia Bolla. Castiglioni studied

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

at the

Politecnico di Milano The Polytechnic University of Milan () is the largest technical university in Italy, with about 42,000 students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and higher education courses in engineering, architecture and design. Founded in 186 ...

and graduated in 1937. His elder brother Livio and younger brother Achille were also architects. Castiglioni married Maria Coduri de Cartosio on 30 December 1942.

Work and career

In 1937 or 1938 he started an architectural design practice with his brother Livio and

Luigi Caccia Dominioni Luigi Caccia Dominioni (7 December 1913 – 13 November 2016) was an Italian architect and furniture designer. Life Caccia Dominioni was born on 7 December 1913 in Milan, in Lombardy in northern Italy, to Ambrogio Caccia Dominioni, a lawy ...

. Amongst the designs produced by the practice were the first Italian

bakelite Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, better known as Bakelite ( ), is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed ...

radio for Phonola. The studio closed in 1940. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he and Livio worked with their younger brother Achille, who had also graduated in

in 1944. Much of their work was in product and exhibition design, but they also carried out a number of architectural projects, including the reconstruction in 1952–53 of the , which had been destroyed by bombing in 1943. Livio Castiglioni left the practice in 1952 or 1953. From then until Pier Giacomo died he and Achille worked as a team; most of their designs are not attributable to either one of them. Products designed by the Castiglioni brothers in the

post-war years In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

included the "Turbino", "Luminator", "Toio", and "

Arco ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...

" lamps for , the "Spalter" vacuum cleaner, and a number of audio devices for

Brionvega Brionvega is an Italian electronics company that is known for manufacturing futuristic televisions and audio equipment. The company was founded in 1939 by Giuseppe Brion and Leone Pajettain in Milan. Initially named B.P.M. Radio, the company w ...

. Working alone, Pier Giacomo designed the "Mezzadro" stool for Zanotta based

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

's concept of "ready made". However, it was not manufactured until 1971, three years after Castiglioni's death. In 1956 he was one of the founding members of the in Milan and also taught

life drawing A figure drawing is a drawing of the human form in any of its various shapes and postures using any of the drawing media. The term can also refer to the act of producing such a drawing. The degree of representation may range from highly detailed, ...

at the

from 1964 to 1968.

Legacy

Reflecting on his friendship with the Castiglionis, the designer

Massimo Vignelli Massimo Vignelli (; January 10, 1931 – May 27, 2014) was an Italian designer who worked in a number of areas including packaging, houseware, furniture, public signage, and showroom design. He was the co-founder of Vignelli Associates, with his ...

said:

"In reality, the Castiglioni brothers were one person. Symbiosis of thought, creative ability, inspiration and execution were an integral part of their being. Talking to one of them or all three of them was the same, they were completely interchangeable, same voice, same accent, same grin, same laughter, same gestures. They were the Castiglioni, like their work, indivisible fruit of the same research, of the same passion, of a great ability to transform the world around us into a new memorable gesture."

In 2014 the city of Milan named a street after the three Castiglioni brothers (Via Fratelli Castiglioni).

Gallery of works

File:Luigi caccia dominoni, livio e pier giacomo castiglioni per phonola, radio 547, 1940.jpg, Tabletop radio designed for Phonola (1939) File:Prospetto originale San Gabriele Arcangelo in Mater Dei (cropped).jpg, Architectural drawing of San Gabriele Arcangelo in Mater Dei (1956–1959) File:Progetto originale San Gabriele Arcangelo in Mater Dei (cropped).jpg, Perspective drawing of San Gabriele Arcangelo in Mater Dei File:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Milano, 1954) - BEIC 6365767.jpg, Milan Triennale X, Industrial Design exposition (1954) File:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico - BEIC 6347022.jpg, Another view of Milan Triennale X File:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Milano, 1954) - BEIC 6347052.jpg, Another view of Milan Triennale X File:Aspirapolvere Spalter - Castiglioni.jpg, Spalter vacuum cleaner (1956) File:Tavola tecnica Spalter.jpg, Spalter (technical drawing) File:SANLUCA.svg, ''Sanluca'' armchair designed in 1959 for Gavina (drawing showing construction detail) File:Brionvega RR126, Pier Giacomo Castiglioni - MNAM.jpg, RR 126 radiogram designed for

File:Sella di Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni.jpg, Sella stool designed for Zanotta File:Mezzadro 1957.jpg, Mezzadro stool designed for Zanotta File:- ITALY - Lampada Arco di Achille Castiglioni per Flos ( 1962 ).svg, Drawing of Arco lamp designed for Flos (1962) File:Ricevitore per filodiffusione a transistor - Museo scienza tecnologia Milano 09711 01.jpg, Analog Piped Radio receiver designed for

(1967–1970)

References

External links

Studio Arch. Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

collection *
"The world according to Castiglioni"
Domus magazine

RAI Television RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many te ...

documentary, Part One (''in Italian'')
"Achille e Pier Giacomo Castiglioni"
RAI Television documentary, Part Two (''in Italian'')
Arco Lamp assembly
short film (''narration in French'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Castiglioni, Pier Giacomo 1913 births 1968 deaths Polytechnic University of Milan alumni Polytechnic University of Milan faculty Architects from Milan Italian industrial designers Italian furniture designers Italian designers Lighting designers Designers Compasso d'Oro Award recipients