Franco Albini
- Introduction
- Franco Albini (17 October 1905 – 1 November 1977) was an Italian Neo-Rationalist architect, designer and university instructor in design. A native of Robbiate, near Milan, Albini obtained his degree in architecture at Politecnico di Milano University in 1929 and began his professional career working for Gio Ponti. He started displaying his works at Milan Triennale In 1930 he opened his own practice. Through his creations, the modern furniture design merged the Italian traditional artisanship with the new forms of modernism. In his creations, he used raw, inexpensive materials. He exploited the very skilled Italian craftsmanship. This also meant an elegant design based on a minimalist aesthetic. One of his first successful works in 1939 was a radio, encased in glass, so to show its internal components. In 1928 Albini designed the now-iconic "Albini Desk", combining steel, glass and wood with a striking minimalistic balance, and introduced by Knoll in 1949. In 1950 he designed the famous and fashionable "Margherita" and "Gala" chairs, made of woven cane. In 1952 he created the "Fiorenza" armchair for Arflex; in 1955 the "Luisa" chair; in 1956 the "Rocking chaise" for Poggi. In the 1960s he worked on industrial design as well as important architectural projects. In 1961 he designed the Rome Rinascente building. Three years later he designed with Franca Helg and Bob Noorda the Milan Metro Line 1 subway stations, and from 1969 also Milan Metro Line 2 subway stations. In 1964 the television set he created for Brionvega was displayed at the Milan Triennial XIII. In the same year, he created various lamps for Arteluce. Albini worked for companies including Brionvega, Cassina, Arflex, Arteluce and Poggi. He was also an architect and interior designer. Among others, in 1945 he created the Zanini Fur Shop located in Milan. As writer and editor, from 1945 to 1946 he worked for the Italian magazine Casabella. In the 1950s and 1960s he taught interior design at the Venice School of Architecture (Università Iuav di Venezia). From 1963 to 1977 he taught design at Milan Polytechnic (Politecnico di Milano).Albini obtained three Compasso d'Oro awards, the most prestigious Italian design prize.
- Wikidata
- Q388683
- Introduction
- Italian architect, Genoa.
- Nationality
- Italian
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Architect, Urban Planner, Designer, Furniture Designer, Industrial Designer
- Name
- Franco Albini
- Ulan
- 500003267
Exhibitions
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
All requests to license audio or video footage produced by MoMA should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills or motion picture footage from films in MoMA’s Film Collection cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For licensing motion picture film footage it is advised to apply directly to the copyright holders. For access to motion picture film stills please contact the Film Study Center. More information is also available about the film collection and the Circulating Film and Video Library.
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication or moma.org, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].