Design Icon: Andrea Branzi

A ​leader of Italian’s cutting edge design and architecture, Andrea Branzi was born in Florence in 1938 and studied as an architect at the Florence School of Architecture, where he graduated in 1966. Immediately after graduating he became part of the avant-garde movement known as the "Italian Radical Architecture" founding the Archizoom Associati together with Paolo Deganello, Massimo Morozzi and Gilberto Coretti.

In 1976 he participated in the “Alchemia” design group, renowned for being a laboratory for experimental industrial design. A few years later, in 1983, Andrea Branzi co-founded the Domus Academy, the first international post-graduate school of design. In the 1980s he also associates himself to the Memphis Group together with ​Alessandro Mendini, ​Ettore Sottsass, Aldo Cibic and Nathalie du Pasquier.

During his career he recevied numerous awards, such as the Compasso d'Oro in 1979 for his research project for Centro Design Montefibre and again in 1987 and 1995 for his career and his activity with the Domus Academy.

In 2008, Branzi was named an Honorary Royal Designer in the United Kingdom and received an honorary degree from La Sapienza in Rome. His works are now part of the permanent collections of major museums including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.

He spent the last few years working as a professor of industrial design at the prestigious Politecnico di Milano University.