Marco Zanuso footstools

In 1916, the Italian designer and architect Marco Zanuso is born in Milan. Zanuso would become part of a group of Italian designers who would shape the post-war international idea of 'good design'.

Marco Zanuso is educated in his hometown at the famous Poitecnico di Milano University. After graduating, Zanuso set up his own design office in 1945. As a young designer, he already has a great influence and helps establish the theories and ideals of how modern design should be. Over the next few decades he would have a major influence on Italian design as he works as a professor of architecture, design and urban planning, helping to shape the Italian designers of tomorrow.

During his career, Marco Zanuso designed technical equipment for a number of Italian companies that wanted to take on the German and Japanese manufacturers who were then world leaders. Zanuso designed both radio and television sets in an aesthetic that became known as "techno-functionalism". Among the most successful products designed by Marco Zanuso are the Doney 14 television set from 1962 and the Grillo telephone from 1966. The appliances were characterised by sculptural shapes, but with a minimalist expression.

Marco Zanuso, however, is perhaps best known as a furniture designer. In 1951, Zanuso designed the iconic Lady armchair for Cassina. The Lady armchair is the result of the great technological developments in furniture making in the middle of the last century. Zanuso designs an armchair in which each part of the armchair is made separately before being assembled together. In the same year, it is awarded a gold medal at the 1951 Milan Triennale.

Another famous creation by Marco Zanuso is the Model 275 table lamp, launched in 1963 by Oluce. The lamp is characterised by its large, rotating shade made of thermoplastic. The shade rests on a lacquered metal frame. The Model 275 lamp, also known as the Zanuso, was originally designed as a desk lamp, but would prove more practical as general lighting whose primary role is to illuminate part of a room.