Mario Bellini
Mario Bellini (1935) is an Italian architect and designer of international standing.
His furniture is exciting in both its use of material and the originality of its forms. Bellini did not believe in precise boundaries within design and worked instead on the relationship between man and environment. The result is an oeuvre too complex and original to pigeonhole.
Biography
Born in Milan, Bellini earned his PhD in architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1959. He then began practising as an architect while also working as a consultant for the Italian electronics company Olivetti. His early collaborations with Olivetti and Cassina gave him an early command of synthetic resins and polyurethanes.
Alongside architecture and electronics, Bellini devoted much of his career to automotive and furniture design, becoming one of the leading designers of postwar Italian style. He has received eight Compasso d'Oro awards, and over twenty of his works are held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Models and collaborations
Bellini has designed numerous items for Vitra, Artemide, Kartell and Cassina, among others. The Cab Chair of 1977, made for Cassina, is one of his most prominent designs.