Collection: Giotto Stoppino
A three-time winner of the Compasso d'Oro, Giotto Stoppino (30/04/1926 - 23/08/2011), was an architect, urban planner and designer pioneer in plastic furnishings. He first studied at the IUAV in Venice and then at the Milan Polytechnic, where he had the opportunity to meet Ernesto Nathan Rogers, who engaged him in designing projects for the BBPR studio and writing articles for "Casabella", of which Rogers was editor-in-chief from 1953 to 1955. Thanks to this encounter, in 1951, he worked with Rogers and his colleague, who was still a student, Vittorio Gregotti, on the layout of the room "Architettura misura dell'uomo" (Human-scale architecture) at the IX Triennale in Milan.
Then in 1953 with Lodovico Meneghetti and Vittorio Gregotti, he founded the firm Architetti Associati in Novara. Active for 15 years, the office was highly prolific, as demonstrated by the archive donated to the City of Milan containing more than 250 planning, architecture and industrial design projects and a total of almost 4000 drawings.
During this period, Stoppini, Meneghetti and Gregotti worked on architecture, design, town planning and exhibition design. Some of their projects included workers' housing in Cameri (Novara); the Cavour armchair for S.I.M. (now in the Frau catalogue), characterised by a curved wooden structure; the 537 table lamp for Arteluce (now part of the permanent collection at MoMA, New York).
Often forgotten, but fundamental for understanding the studio's approach in the field of interior architecture is the installation for the "Spatial transformation of service spaces" at the "La casa abitata" exhibition (1965), in which they proposed innovative solutions that they would then use in their commissioned projects. In 1968, Stoppini opened his own architecture firm and collaborated with international brands like Acerbis, ArteLuce, Bernini, Calligaris, Driade. His collaboration with Kartell is of great note. There, he had the opportunity to experiment with plastic materials, creating some true design icons, like the Tavolo Impilabile (1968) and the magazine rack (4676 /1972).
He participated several times in the Milan Triennale and was among the Italian architects included in the major international exhibition "New Domestic Landscape" at MoMA in New York in 1972
He was also a teacher. His lectures at the University of Palermo are collected in the volume, "From the Nature of Materials to Design", published in 1994, illustrated with his drawings. During his career, he was awarded the Compasso d'Oro three times: in 1979 for the Sheraton sideboard (Acerbis International), 1991 for the Alessia handle (Olivari), and 2011 for lifetime achievement. He died in Milan on August 23, 2011.
