Architect, designer and creative director Raffaella Monica Mangiarotti, was born in 1965. She obtained her degree in Architecture with honours from Milan Polytechnic in 1991 with thesis advisor, Tomàs Maldonado. In 1994 she got a PhD in Design studying the environmental impact of complex industrial products. Since 2001, she has taught Industrial Design and Design for Fashion at the Polytechnic. In 1995, she met Matteo Bazzicalupo on the editorial staff of Modo magazine. After a few years of individual experience - which saw her collaborate with Marco Zanuso and Francesco Trabucco - she established the deepdesign studio with Bazzicalupo in 1999. The innovative office worked in fields ranging from food packaging to consumer electronics, furniture and cosmetics. The studio's activity can be recognised for its functional and sustainable approach. They realised projects and designed products for such companies and organisations as Barilla, Brevi, Castelli Haworth, Coca Cola, Comitato Giochi Olimpici Torino 2006, Coop, Daimler Chrysler, Fratelli Rossetti, Giorgetti, Glaxo Smithkline, JVC, Kitchen Aids, Kraft Suchard, Imetec, Inblu, Mandarina Duck, Misuraemme, Nec, Panasonic, RSVP, San Lorenzo, Whirlpool Europe.
In 2010, she founded the Raffaella Mangiarotti studio, where she specialised in furniture design, art direction, showrooms and exhibition booths, collaborating with international brands. She has been art director of Serralunga (2010-2015), Manerba (2014-2018) and IOC (since 2018). The fruitful collaboration with the latter gave way to a number of products, including Monforte, a sound-absorbing fabric partition; the Lodovica armchair, the Bicocca chaise longue; the Guastalla oval coffee table; the Ghisolfa high-backed armchairs and sofas; the Magenta office chairs; the Cordusio and Sempione desks and meeting tables. With Manerba, she designed and produced various furniture items including the Undecided family of sofas, armchairs and small armchairs, the Litta tables, the CUP upholstered pouf and the Bague sofas. She designed the Merano collection of textile sofas, armchairs, ottomans, and settees for B-Lin.
Some of her products have been exhibited in museums and are part of permanent collections, and have been published in numerous books and magazines. The Dandelion lamp is part of the MoMA Design and Architecture collection in New York. The Milan Triennale held the solo exhibition 'L'anima Sensibile delle Cose' curated by Cristina Morozzi (with a catalogue by Electa) dedicated to her work. She has been honoured by Young & Design (1996, 1997,1999, 2000), Cosmopack (1995, 1996), Esaedro (1997), ID Award (2004), Selezione Compasso d'Oro (2005), and the Green Dot Award (2009). In 2017, 2018 and 2021, she was designated global Ambassador of Italian Design. As a researcher at Milan Polytechnic, she is the author of several patents. She has published numerous studies on the relationship between design and sustainability, fashion and design, aesthetics and technology. In 2000, she published "Il DFE in impresa. Design for Environment: the design of eco-friendly products' for Maggioli editore.
