Mario Bellini was born in 1935 in Milan and received a degree in Architecture from the Milan Polytechnic in 1959. His work as a designer began in 1963 as a consultant for Olivetti, a company for which he created typewriters and calculators, including Programma 101 (1965), TVC 250 (1967), Logos 50-60 (1973), and Divisumma 18 (1973). In 1987, Bellini founded Mario Bellini Associati, later to become the internationally renowned Mario Bellini Architects, based in Milan. Bellini has been awarded the Compasso d'Oro eight times. He received the Gold Medal of the Chartered Society of Designers and the Honorary Title of Designer for Industry of the RSA, both English awards. In 2004, he received the Gold Medal awarded by the President of the Italian Republic. In 2011, he was awarded the Gold Medal of Civic Merit of the Municipality of Milan (Ambrogino d'Oro). In 2015, he received the Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Architecture by the Milan Triennale, which in January 2017 dedicated an extensive retrospective to him.
He boasts professional partnerships with the most important Italian and international brands, giving birth to design icons now in the collections of the world's major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which dedicated a solo exhibition to him in 1987. His most famous works include the Cartesius table for Pedretti (1962, first Golden Compass); GA45 POP (Minerva, 1968); le Bambole (C&B 1972-2007); the Cab chair (Cassina, 1977); Pianeta Ufficio (Marcatrè, 1974); the Bellini Chair (Heller, 1998). His most recent works for Kartell include the Dune tray (2009), the Moon (2010) and Shanghai (2012) vases; for Nemo, the Nuvola lamp (2012 update of a 1974 lamp); for Cassina, the Bull chair (2008), the Pantheon table (2012, a variant of the 1977 Rotonda), Cab Bed and Cab Lounge (2015), which have become part of Cassina's 'Mario Bellini Collection'; for Meritalia, the visionary upholstered pieces Stardust (2007) and Via Lattea (2008), Stradivani (2009), the No Design chairs (2001), the Freud sofa (2014) and the Opera table (2014), which gave rise to the Opera Collection (2016); for Horm, the Cobra television stand (2006), the Sudoku bookcase (2007) and the Ki chair (2010), three projects that gave rise to the K Collection (2016); for Riva1920, Tavola Armonica (2014) and X-Table (2015), the Kono stool (2016).
Bellini has realised numerous architectural works the world over. They include the Museum of Islamic Arts at the Louvre, Paris; the Museum of the City of Bologna; the MIC, Milan Convention Centre at the Milan Trade Fair (Portello); Urban Redevelopment of the 'Verona Forum' Verona Complex; the Deutsche Bank Headquarters in Frankfurt; the Extension of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; the New Trade Fair Quarter in Essen, Germany; the Natuzzi Americas Headquarters, High Point, North Carolina, USA; the Arsoa Headquarters, Yamanashi, Japan; the New Portello Quarter of the Milan Trade Fair; the Tokyo Design Centre, Japan; the Yokohama Business Park, Yokohama, Japan; the Villa Erba International Congress Centre in Cernobbio (Como).
He has designed numerous exhibitions, the most significant of which include: 'Giotto, l'Italia' (2015) and 'Magnificenza e Progetto' (2009) at Palazzo Reale, Milan; 'Annisettanta' (2008), 'Le Città del Mondo e il Futuro delle Metropoli' (1988) and 'Il Progetto Domestico' (1986) at the Milan Triennale; 'Il Rinascimento da Brunelleschi a Michelangelo' in Venice, then in Paris and Berlin, 1994/95. He taught Architectural Composition in Vienna (1982-83) and New Housing Models at Domus Academy in Milan (1983-1985). In 1995, he held the adjunct professor position at the Genoa School of Architecture. Mario Bellini's work and thinking are documented in an extensive bibliography and more than sixty editorials in Domus magazine, of which he was editor from 1986 to 1991.
