Collection: Massimo Iosa Ghini
Massimo Iosa Ghini was born in Bologna in 1959. After initiating his university studies at the University of Florence, he graduated in Architecture at the Milan Polytechnic. In 1985, he joined the Memphis group with Ettore Sottsass and the following year, founded the Bolidismo movement. These avant-garde experiences pursued experimentation and innovatation in architecture, design, and communications. Bolidismo was a collective of twenty architects with whom Iosa Ghini conducted theoretical and design research into the concepts of ubiquity, speed, the unexpected, dynamism and freedom. For several years, he worked as a consultant for RAI where he created sets and graphics for such TV shows as Obladì Obladà, hosted by Serena Dandini. Massimo Iosa Ghini works on a wide variety of scales from product design to communications, interiors, furniture and exhibition design, and the design of commercial buildings, museums, offices, railway stations and subways.
His beginnings in product design with the Memphis group saw him create the Otello armchair, the Roy table and the Juliette chair. He has collaborated with many important design brands. For Moroso, he designed the New Tone sofa, exhibited in the world's leading design museums and still in production. He created the comfortable and versatile Alo swivel stool for Poltrona Frau and the Leggero sofa for Cassina, consisting of a metal frame with a fabric-covered seat in polyurethane foam. He conceived successful kitchen models for Snaidero, including Gioconda and Frame. More recently, in 2021, with Natuzzi, he produced the Sinuosa collection composed of the Juno sofa, the Beat armchair and the Gutta table.
Founded in 1990 with offices in Bologna and Milan, Iosa Ghini Associati develops projects for important international groups the world over. His most significant commissions include Ferrari Stores in Europe, the United States and Asia; a multifunctional residential project in Budapest; hotels in Europe (including in Budapest, Nice and Bari); airport areas for Alitalia; the Kröpcke underground station in Hanover; The Collection shopping centre in Miami; the Galleria Ferrari Museum in Maranello; the Seat Pagine Gialle headquarters in Turin; the Giorgio Morandi House Museum and the People Mover transport infrastructure project in Bologna; the IBM Software Executive Briefing Center, Rome.
In 2013, the Milan Triennale dedicated an anthological exhibition to him, held the following year at MAMbo in Bologna. In 2015, one of his retail concepts, KIKO MILANO, won the Best Retail Global Expansion category at MAPIC 2014. The Marconi Foundation and the Marconi Institute for Creativity awarded him the Marconi Prize for Creativity. His design and architecture projects have received important mentions like the Compasso D'Oro ADI Award and numerous awards, including the Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum; the Red Dot Award and the iF Product Design Award in Germany; the Roscoe Award in the U.S.A.; the IAI AWARD Green Design Global Award; and the IAI Awards in China.
