Cooper Hewitt says...
Achille Castiglioni was born on February 16, 1918 in Milan into a family of talented Italian designers and architects. After graduating in architecture from the Politecnico, Milan, in 1944, Achille joined his brothers Livio Castiglioni and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni working in the Castiglioni Design Studio. Achille collaborated with his brother Pier for most of his life. Achille and Pier designed several architectural projects together until 1960, but the Castiglioni brothers were best known for their famous shop displays, their industrial design work and their unique design approach. They focused on an object’s inherent functionalism and used basic technology, taking ordinary domestic objects and transforming them. Their design approach seemed straightforward, but it had an ironic, humorous twist. This approach is best exemplified in these industrially-designed products namely: the Mezzadro stool (1955) (a red metal tractor seat on a chrome-plated bent metal base, 1978-144-1); the Arco and Toio standard lamps (1962), and the Parentesi suspended lamps (1971). Additionally, in 1951, Achille Castiglioni founded the Associazone Design Italiano. In 1969, after the death of his brother and longtime partner Pier, Achille returned to teach industrial design at the Politecnico, Turin.
