Arco Floor Lamp

Achille Castiglioni was born in Milan in 1918. As early as 1940 he dedicated himself to testing industrial production with brothers Livio (1911-1979) and Pier Giacomo (1913-1968). After graduating in architecture in 1944, he began research into shapes, techniques and new materials, aimed at developing an integral design process. He was one of the founders of ADI in 1956. In 1969, he was authorized by the Ministry of Education to teach "Artistic Design for Industry" and was a professor at Turin's Faculty of Architecture until 1980 and then professor of "Industrial Design" in Milan until 1993. In 1987, he received an Honorary Degree from the Royal College of Art (London). He won numerous awards including 9 Compasso d'Oro awards. Achille Castiglioni died in 2002.

Born in 1913, Pier Giacomo Castiglioni graduated from the Department of Architecture at Milan Polytechnic in 1937 and established the "Architecture, Urban Buildings and Research into Industrial Design". He co-wrote a libel on the Milan Town Planning Scheme: "Fifty Significant Squares in the Milan of the Future" with the architect Carlo Pagani in 1938. He was a Lecturer and Assistant in Architectural Composition, Professor in Drawing and Relief Work at the Milan Faculty of Architecture. Pier Giacomo Castiglioni received numerous prizes and awards, including the compasso d'oro in 1955, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1967, 1979. He died in 1968. His works have been displayed and are currently being exhibited at: Museum of Modern Art, New York, Royal Institute of British Architects (London) Musee des Arts Decoratifs (Paris), Palais du Centenaire (Brussels), Modern Art Museum, Sao Paulo (Brazil), Prima Esposicion de disegno industrial di Buenos Aires (Argentina).