The couple, Setsu and Shinobu Ito, founded their office in Milan in 1997. Setsu, born in 1964 in Yamaguchi, graduated in Design and Architecture at Tsukuba University in 1989; Shinobu, born in 1966 in Tokyo, graduated in Textile Design at Tama Art University in 1988. After completing his studies, Setsu moved to Italy where he apprenticed first with Alessandro Mendini and then with Angelo Mangiarotti. During that same period, Shinobu, after working for seven years in the Sony Creative Product R&D centre, moved to Italy in 1996 to take a master's degree in Design Direction at Domus Academy in Milan, where she met Setsu, the course tutor.
This marked the start of their professional and personal partnership, which has resulted in intense design activity on various scales - from design to architecture, packaging and electronics. Their work combines Japanese and Italian culture in objects and spaces characterised by formal rigour, essentiality and spirituality. Their projects have been published in numerous books, magazines and websites; "Setsu & Shinobu Ito East-West Designer" was published by Logos in 2008. They have undertaken particularly fruitful collaborations – designing the Hineri marble vase and the Kiri walnut bar cabinet for Giorgetti, various wallpaper collections for Baboon, and tables, beds, armchairs and poufs for Désirée Divani.
The couple has received prestigious design awards, including: The Young & Design Award (Italy, 1999), The Good Design Award (Japan, 2001), The Toyama Product Design Award (Japan, 2001), ADI Design Index 2001, selection (Italy, 2005), the Compasso d'Oro (Italy, 2011), the Milano Design Award / Best Engagement (Italy, 2016), the Red Dot Award Best of the Best (Germany, Singapore, 2016), Design Plus (Germany, 2016), the JPC Japan Package Design Award/Cosmetic Goods Award (Japan, 2016), the NY NOW Best Product (USA, 2017) and the Good Design Awards (USA, 2018). Their works are exhibited in the permanent collections of the "Triennale Design Museum" in Milan and "Die Sammlung Neu International Design Museum" in Munich.
Setsu and Shinobu Ito are visiting professors at important design schools including Domus Academy in Milan, Politecnico di Milano, IUAV University in Venice, IED Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan and the University of Tsukuba in Japan. They are fellows and visiting researchers at the Research Center for Advanced Science & Technology at the University of Tokyo and were awarded the "Premio Targa Rodolfo Bonetto" in 2002 for their teaching activities. Setsu and Shinobu Ito are members of ADI - Associazione Disegno Industriale (Italy), JAFCA - Japan Fashion Color Association (Japan), APDF - Asia Pacific Designers Federation (China) and the IDA - International Design Award, IF - International Forum Design Award (Germany) and IAI Design Award (China) juries.
