Alberto Meda (born 1945) is an Italian engineer and designer. His work is held in museums around the world. He works and lives in Milan.

Early life

Meda was born in

Tremezzina Tremezzina (Comasco: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Como, in Lombardy, that formed on 25 May 2014 from a merger of the comunes of Lenno, Mezzegra, Ossuccio and Tremezzo. A referendum to create this comune was held on 1 December 2013. The r ...

, in the Italian province of Como in 1945, and graduated with a ''

laurea In Italy, the ''laurea'' is the main post-secondary academic degree. The name originally referred literally to the laurel wreath, since ancient times a sign of honor and now worn by Italian students right after their official graduation ceremo ...

'' in mechanical engineering at the Politecnico di Milano in 1969.

Career

In 1973 he became the technical director and head of planning at Kartell, in charge of furniture and plastic laboratory equipment projects.

Design

In 1979 he worked as a freelance industrial designer for companies such as

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian carmaker known for its sports-oriented vehicles, strong auto racing heritage, and iconic design. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, it is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe and one of 14 brands of mu ...

Auto, Alias, Alessi, Arabia-Finland, Cinelli, Colombo design, Brevetti Gaggia, JCDecaux, Ideal Standard, Luceplan, Legrand, Mandarina Duck, Omron Japan, Philips,

Olivetti Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been owned b ...

, and Vitra. Lampe Titania

Meda came to design from engineering, bringing a pragmatic mind and an attention to details in materials and production process. His applied-science background shaped Meda’s designs that are modern in form, and organic in feel. This sophistication caught the eye of Rolf Fehlbaum, chairman of Swiss manufacturer Vitra, who commissioned the engineer to design a chair. This collaboration resulted in seating pieces such as the MedaPro and the MedaPal.

Teaching and research

From 1983 he was a lecturer on industrial technology at Domus Academy, which lasted until 1987. He conducted seminars at International Design Symposium in Fukui, at Workshop Design Quest in Osaka, and at Design Center in Tokyo. From 1995 he was a lecturer at Politecnico of Milan "Corso di Laurea di Disegno Industriale" with a design lab. From 1995 to 1997 he was a member of Board of Designlabor Bremerhaven. From 2003 to 2007 he lectured at IUAV in Venice with design workshops. In 2016, he became a member of the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano. He gave lectures and seminars at Chicago, Washington University, in Stockholm, Miami, San Paulo, Taipei, Ulm, Istanbul, Toronto, Mexico, Hong Kong, Firenze, Oslo, Istanbul, Lausanne, and Seoul.

Recognition

Museums

Meda's designs are held in the permanent collection of museums such as the Museum of Modern Art of Toyama, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York. Examples of these works include the ''"Light light "'' chair (1987), the ''"Soft light"'' chair (1989), the ''"Longframe''" by Alias (1991), and ''the "On-Off"'' lamp by Luceplan (1988). In 2023 the Triennale di Milano staged a retrospective in of his work titled ''Alberto Meda: Tension and Lightness''.

Awards

* 1990“Creativitalia” (Tokio1990) e una personale alla Design Gallery di Matzuia Ginza *1992 XVIII Triennale, ‘La leggerezza’ sezione del ‘Il Giardino delle cose’ *1992 "Design Plus” Titania lamp, Luceplan *1993 “Mestieri d’autore” (Siena) * 1994 "European Design Prize", Luceplan * 1995 “Mutant materials in contemporary design“ al MOMA-(New York) * 1995 "Industrie Forum design" Hannover UNI – X family lamps * 1996 “Meda-Rizzatto” alla Galerie Binnen (Amsterdam) * 1996 "Industrie Forum design" Hannover Titania Clamp lamp * 1997 Good design Gold Prize–Japan Meda chair, Vitra * 1998 I.D design review ’Best of category’ Meda chair, Vitra * 1999 Designer of the year, personale al Salon du Meuble (Parigi) * 1999 Designer of the year, Salon du Meuble de Paris * 2000 Bundespreis Produktdesign, Meda chair, Vitra * 2001 “Italia e Giappone: design come stile di vita” (Yokohama, kobe) * 2001 Good Design Award Chicago Athenaeum Water Jug, Arabia * 2002 Reddot Award knives, Iittala Finland * 2005 “Hounorary Royal Designer for Industry” Londra RSA * 2006 "Design Plus" e “Light of the future” MIX lamp, Luceplan * 2007 "INDEX:award" Solar Bottle * 2008 Design and Elastic Mind- (MOMA) * 2012 Best of – Design Plus per OttoWatt, Luceplan * 2014 Triennale di Milano Il Design Italiano oltre le crisi * 2014 Best of Neocon (U.S.A) Silver Award Flap, Caimi Brevetti * 2015 Youthful – spazio Domus, (Milano) * 2015 The Bauhaus#itsalldesign. (Vitra Design Museum) * 2015 German Design Award Flap, Caimi Brevetti * 2016 DesignEuropa Awards (EUIPO) Flap, Caimi Brevetti * 2016 Good Design Award Chicago Athenaeum Origami, Tubes * 2017 Red Dot with Frame 52, Alias * 2018 Red Dot Best of the Best with Aledin lamp, Kartell

References

External links

Biography
at Meda's website

at DesignCelebrity {{DEFAULTSORT:Meda, Alberto 1945 births Living people Polytechnic University of Milan alumni Italian engineers Italian interior designers Italian industrial designers Italian furniture designers Compasso d'Oro Award recipients Royal Designers for Industry Product designers Academic staff of the Polytechnic University of Milan