Michele De Lucchi
Biography
Founder and creator of all Produzione Privata products
Michele De Lucchi was born in 1951 in Ferrara and graduated in architecture in Florence. During the period of radical and experimental architecture he was a prominent figure in movements like Cavart, Alchimia and Memphis.
De Lucchi has designed lamps and furniture for the most known Italian and European companies, as Artemide, Olivetti, Alias, Unifor, Hermès, Alessi.
For Olivetti he has been Director of Design from 1988 to 2002 and he developed experimental projects for Compaq Computers, Philips, Siemens and Vitra and he elaborated various personal theories on the evolution of the workplace.
He designed and restored buildings in Japan for NTT, in Germany for Deutsche Bank, in Switzerland for Novartis, and in Italy for Enel, Olivetti, Piaggio, Poste Italiane, Telecom Italia. In 1999 he has been appointed to renovate some of ENEL's (the Italian Electricity Company) power plants. For Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bundesbahn, Enel, Poste Italine, Telecom Italia, Hera, Intesa Sanpaolo and at other Italian and foreign banks he has collaborated to the evolution of the corporate image, introducing technical and aesthetic innovation into the working environments.
He has taken care of numerous art and design exhibitions and has planned buildings for museums as the Triennale di Milano, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, the Neues Museum in Berlin, the Fondazione Cini in Venice and the Gallerie d’Italia - Piazza Scala, the Pietà Rondanini museum and Casa Manzoni in Milan. He developed many architectural projects for private and public client in Georgia, as Ministry of Internal Affairs and the bridge of Peace in Tbilisi. He has recently realized a number of projects for the city of Milan: the pavilions for Expo 2015 (Padiglione Zero, Expo Center, Intesa Sanpaolo) and UniCredit Pavilion in piazza Gae Aulenti.
His professional work has always gone side-by-side with a personal exploration of design, technology and crafts. In 1990 he founded Produzione Privata, a small-scale company concern through which Michele De Lucchi designs products that are made using artisan techniques and crafts.
From 2004 he has been sculpturing little wooden houses with the chain saw to create the essentiality of the architectural style.
In 2003 the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris has acquired a considerable number of his works. Selections of his products are exhibited in the most important design Museums in Europe, United States and Japan.
Honours:
In 2000 he was appointed Officer of Italian Republic by President Ciampi, for services to design and architecture.
In 2001 he has been nominated Professor at the Design and Art Faculty at the University in Venice.
In 2006 he received the Honorary Doctorate from Kingston University, for his contribution to “living quality”.
In 2008 he has been nominated Professor at the Design Faculty of the Politecnico of Milan and Member of the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca in Rome.