Born in Granerolo (Verbania) in 1916, he studied technical drawing at the OMAR Institute in Novara, entering the metal housewares workshop founded by his father Giovanni in 1921 at a very young age. Starting in the mid-1930s he designed many of Alessi's objects for a decade including the 'Octagonal', 'Scalini', 'Cilindrica' and the famous 'Bombé' series, still in production. In the 1950s he took over as general manager of the company giving it an international dimension and opening it to collaboration with outside designers. He was president of Alessi S.p.A. until July 2009, the date of his passing.
