Achille Castiglioni & Pio Manzu

Achille Castiglioni was born in Milan, Italy in 1918 and began working as an architect and designer with his brothers Livio and Piero Giacomo in 1938. He was one of the great masters of Italian design and a founding member of ADI in the 1950s. A long list of awards is kept in his name, for example he won eight Compassi d'Oro. His work as a designer is characterised by an unmistakable blend of simplicity, irony and fun, which is testament to his close interest in the way objects are used and the potential offered by technology along with the use of new materials.

Pio Manzú was born in Bergamo, Italy in 1939, the son of the sculptor Giacomo. Pio studied industrial design at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm. In 1962 he won a competition organised by Revue Automobile for a new coupe concept, together with Michael Conrad. In 1968 he joined the Centro Stile FIAT as a consultant, where he studied minimalism.

The interesting thing about the story of the designers Castiglioni and Manzúa is that they never met, but nevertheless "collaborated" on the Parentesi lamp. The story of Parentesi begins with the death of the young designer Pio Manzú in 1969. Castiglioni was presented with drawings, one of which caught his attention. It was a slitted, light-emitting cylindrical can resting on a rod connecting the ceiling and the floor. Castiglioni worked closely with Flos engineers, with whom he refined the design. The result was the Parntesi lamp, which has been in production since 1971.