Giancarlo Piretti
Giancarlo Piretti was born in Bologna in 1940. He attended the State Institute
of Art in Bologna, where he obtained the title of Design Teacher. In 1960 he attended
the Accademia di Belle Arti (Fine Arts Academy) of Bologna. Subsequently, for seven
years, he was a teacher of Industrial Design at the State Institute of Art of Bologna.
During the same period, for 12 years, he worked as interior designer for Anonima
Castelli, designing their furniture lines for home, office and communities, for which
he registered numerous industrial and mechanical invention patents.
His best known projects include PLIA, a folding chair, PLATONE, a folding table,
DSC (106-AXIS), a system of seats for communities and institutional spaces,
and SISTEMA 61, a modular divans system. PLIA was commercially very successful:
from 1969, when production began, more than seven million units were sold.
PLIA chairs were purchased by Museums in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia and
the United States (Museum of Modern Art of New York) for their design collections.
Giancarlo Piretti participates in many Italian design competitions, obtaining prizes
and special mentions. In 1971 he received the SMAU prize and the BIO 5 Distinction
at the Ljubliana biennial exhibition, Slovenia for Plia. In 1973, he was assigned
- as ever for PLIA - the GUTE FORM mention of the Chamber of Commerce
of the German Federal Republic, and a special mention by the British Government.
In 1971 PLANO won the gold medal at IBD (USA). For the VERTEBRA seating system:
in 1977 he was awarded, jointly with Emilio Ambasz, the gold medal by BD (USA),
the SMAU prize in 1979 and the Compasso d'Oro (Gold Compass) (Italy) in 1981.
As ever jointly with Ambasz, in 1980 he was assigned the "National Industrial
Design Award" (USA) for LOGOTEC, a lighting system. In 1975 Giancarlo Piretti was
appointed a member of the Scientific-Didactic Committee of the Superior Institute
for Artistic industries of Florence.
His work is often published in numerous international magazines, such as:
"Domus", "Abitare" and "Gap Casa" (Italy), "MD" (Germany), "Design" (England),
"Industrial Design" and "Interiors" (USA), "Space and Design"
and "Life Scape" (Jaan), etc.