Biography

Marco Zanuso (14/05/1916 – 11/07/2001 Milan)

Like many designers of the time, Zanuso was fascinated by new materials like polyurethane foam and elastic tape. In the 1940s, he began experimenting with them in a collaboration with Italian manufacturer Arflex that continued for years. For the Arflex line, Zanuso designed not only the Lady armchair, which won the gold medal at the Milan Triennale the year it debuted, but also the Antropus armchair from 1949 and the Sleep-o-matic sofa from 1951 If these works were radical in their materials, their construction methods were also revolutionary. The Lady armchair, for example, was made in individual parts and assembled at the very end of the production process, whereas traditional furniture was more often constructed as a whole. Zanuso has spent his entire career creating a new definition of modernism through his works and words. He studied architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan with some of the country’s most avant-garde designers, opened his own agency in 1945, and even served as editor-in-chief of the design magazines Domus and Casabella, sharing in their pages his philosophy of modern design. He has certainly managed to create a lasting impact on the world of design, particularly through pieces like the Lady armchair.