FontanaArte - Teso bookcase

Renzo Piano measures itself for the first time with the field of design by designing for fontanaarte a coordinated production of furnishing systems in a single material: glass, symbol of the production history of the company. A collection of great value, consisting of table, bookcase and console.

Renzo Piano

Graduated in 1964 from the Politecnico di Milano. During university, he worked in the studio of Franco Albini and completed his practical training assiduously attending his father’s construction sites. Between 1965 and 1970, he made numerous research and work trips to the United States and Britain. It was also during this period that he met Jean Prouvé, with whom he forged a friendship that had a profound influence on his work. In 1970 he founded the studio Piano & Rogers with Richard Rogers, his partner in the project of the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In 1977 he founded the Atelier Piano & Rice, with the engineer Peter Rice, a professional figure who assisted him for many years, and who collaborated on many projects, until his death in 1993. Finally, in 1981 it set up the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, with offices in Paris, Genoa and New York, in which about one hundred and fifty people (architects, engineers, specialists) work.

FontanaArte

Fontana Arte specializes in glass processing and the manufacture of furnishing accessories. Founded in 1881 in Milan by Luigi Fontana, it began as an industry producing glass sheets for building purposes. It had Giò Ponti, Pietro Chiesa and Max Ingrand as artistic directors. It gained notoriety especially for its processing of curved crystal and production of lighting applies.
Lighting is also design; numerous brands make it possible to combine functionality with aesthetics, making lamps, wall sconces, and spotlights true pieces of furniture. Among them is FontanArte, which has marked the history of lighting design.
In over than 80 years of activity, the brand has received numerous awards, including the Compasso d'oro Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998, given by the ADI - Association for Industrial Design: "thanks to the collaboration with different designers, has been able to create a lively creative climate that has upgraded one of the historical names of Italian design."