Mario Bellini

Mario Bellini was born in 1935 and graduated in architecture in 1959 at the Milan Polytechnic, where he lives and works. He started working as a designer in 1963 with Olivetti, Cassina and with many other Italian and international companies such as Artemide, B&B Italia, Cassina, Yamaha, Renualt, Rosenthal, Vitra... He has won numerous international awards for his professional work, including 7 "Compasso d'oro". Many of his works are in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which in June 1987 dedicated a monographic exhibition to him. Among his most famous works in Italy, the new Portello area of the Milan Trade Fair and the convention center "Villa Erba" in Cernobbio. He won two international competitions, one for the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, which is now under construction, and the other for the west-south area of the International Trade Fair in Essen, which was completed in 2001. He has recently won the competition for a cultural centre in Turin including the civic library and a theatre. He is now working also at two office complexes in the Urban Entertainment Centre in Frankfurt and at the Italian headquarter of Natuzzi. From 1986 to 1991 he was editor of Domus, a monthly magazine of architecture, design and art. Lover of arts and collector, he has often organised art exhibitions: "The Treausre of San Marco of Venice" at the Grand Palais in Paris and in other museums of the world (1984-1987), "The Italian Art in the 29th Century" at the Royal Academy of Arts in London (1989), "The Renaissance from Brunelleschi to Michelangelo" at Palazzo Grassi in Venice, Paris and Berlin (1994-95), "The Triumph of Baroque. Architecture in Europe 1600-1750" in Turin (1999). The Civic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Trento dedicated to him in the month of October 2000 a monographic exhibition, "Mario Bellini: a path through architecture, furniture and cars", which he himself organised. Products created for B&B Italia: