Michele De Lucchi

Born in 1951 in Ferrara, Michele De Lucchi is an architect, designer and artist who has become one of the leading exponents and representatives of Italian design in recent years. His artistic inclination and desire to experiment have allowed him over the years to be very successful, even winning the coveted Compasso d’Oro award three times.

After receiving his degree in Architecture in Florence, Michele De Lucchi engaged in various experiences; certainly, one of the most important was his meeting with Ettore Sottsass which allowed him to join the Memphis group in 1979. The following year he began working for himself and started up his own business. Michele De Lucchi quickly managed to enter the most important industrial firms; companies such as Olivetti, Cassina, Artemis, Vitra, Alias, Poltrona Frau and Alessi allowed him to design and produce numerous furnishing elements.

His extreme skill in accompanying each of his objects with in-depth study led him to found an experimental laboratory called Produzione Privata in 1990.

Here, De Lucchi was free to unleash all his creativity and experiment with techniques related solely to the artisanal field letting him move away from the world of mass production.

To this regard he once said: "I would like to invigorate the products with a value that is greater in terms of feelings and humanity, eradicating the indifference of standardized mass products (...)". Driven by a sort of design romanticism, Michele De Lucchi created this workshop so he might work more intimately and closer with his products that too often felt distant in standardized production.

During his prolific career around the world, the designer from Ferrara has won numerous awards and acknowledgments that have helped him obtain the honour of Officer of the Italian Republic. That his products and works are exhibited in the most important museums in the world and his creations can be found all over are clearly symbolic of his extreme design sensitivity.