Designer Alfredo Häberli was born in Buenos Aires in 1964. After moving to Switzerland in 1977, he graduated with honours from the Höhere Schule für Gestaltung in Zurich (1991), majoring in Industrial Design. That same year, he opened an office on the eastern shore of Lake Zurich marking the beginning of his prolific career. His projects - combining essentiality, dynamism and function - derive from a process entailing a progression of numerous sketches and drawings. Alfredo Häberli has partnered with some of the most important brands in the international design sector, including BD Barcelona Design, BMW, Camper, Driade, Edra, FSB, Georg Jensen, Iittala, Kvadrat, Luceplan, Vitra, Zanotta.
Häberli's important collaboration with Alias began in 1997 when he designed the SEC system of modular bookcases, cupboards and shelves. This was followed by the Erice, Enna, Selinunte, Segesta, Taormina and Tindari chair collections in stackable, sled, swivel and perch versions. He also worked with Schiffini, for whom he designed the Pampa and Mesa kitchens, and Andreu World, creating Dado, a colourful series of upholstered modular sofas and poufs. Häberli developed a line of sofas for Moroso - Taba, an eight-piece collection of polyurethane foam elements affording super-comfortable seating positions.
In 2002, Frame Publishers issued the monograph "Sketching My Own Landscape" in Amsterdam. In 2006, he was guest of honour at the 20th Design Biennial in Kortrijk, Belgium. That same year, Birkhäuser Basel published the volume "Alfredo Häberli. Design Live", featuring photographs of Häberli's work by some of the most influential artists on the Swiss scene. In 2012, Häberli, with his wife Stefanie, designed the interiors of the large 25hours Hotel Zurich West combining his best-known furnishings with custom-made pieces.
Alfredo Häberli's work has received numerous awards and appeared in many exhibitions. In 2008, the retrospective, "SurroundThings", was held at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, for which he has been curating exhibitions since 1988. In 2009, he was designated "Designer of the Year 2009" by A&W (Architektur & Wohnen) magazine and held a solo exhibit at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile imm Cologne. In 2014, he received the Swiss Grand Prix of Design from the FOC, the Swiss Federal Office of Culture. In the fall of 2019, he was a member of the Design Preis Schweiz jury and, in February 2020, he was a juror for the Frame Awards in Amsterdam.
