Stefano Giovannoni presents at Design Indaba 2015

Stefano Giovannoni is an architect and industrial and interior designer with a prolific output of products for major brands all over the world. Born in La Spezia, Italy, in 1954, he lives and works in Milan.

Giovannoni studied architecture in Florence. He taught and conducted research in the faculty of architecture in Florence from 1979 to 1991. He has been a professor at Domus Academy in Milan, at the Università del Progetto in Reggio Emilia, and professor of industrial design at the Università di Architettura in Genoa.

He has designed hugely successful products including the “Girotondo” and “Mami” series in steel for Alessi, as well as numerous plastic characters for Alessi’s Family Follow Fiction collection. His bestsellers include the Bombo range for Magis. His work spans furniture and interior products, electronic devices, appliances, kitchenware, sanitaryware, automotive design, packaging and branding, and interior spaces. He has been commissioned by a vast roster of global brands such as Amore Pacific, Bertazzoni, Bisazza, Fiat, Honeywell, LG Hausys, L'Oreal - Maletti, Moooi, Nestlé-Frisco, Nissan, Samsung, Seiko, Siemens, Sodastream and 3M.

His design objects have won the Design Plus Award at the Frankfurt Fair-Ambiente 1994, 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2009; the 100% Design Award in London in 1997, 2005 and 2009; the Forum Design Hannover Award in Hannover in 1999; the ISH Award in 2003; the Chicago Atheneum Good Design Award in 2010; the New York Interior Design 2012; and the Red Dot Award in 2014.

At times graciously utilitarian, his plastic designs often exhibit an impish playfulness. His pop-coloured tableware for Alessi is a prize example. Fruit Mama, his deliriously quirky reinterpretation of the fruit bowl, also suggests his avant-garde leanings. The Magic Bunny toothpick holder and Far-East inspired citrus-squeezer offer supreme examples of a design style that is at once boldly simple and cheerily childlike.

His work is held in the permanent collections at the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris, and New York's MOMA.