Massimo Iosa Ghini

Massimo Iosa Ghini was born in Bologna in 1959. He studied architecture in Florence and graduated from the Polytechnic Institute in Milan. In 1985 he took part in the avant-garde movements of Italian design, creating illustrations, objects and interiors for the Bolidism group, which he founded; he also worked with Ettore Sottsass of the Memphis group. During this period, he opened the Studio Iosa Ghini in Bologna and began to work as an architect and designer. Iosa Ghini designs furniture, collections and objects, and handles art direction for leading Italian and international design firms. Over the years he has defined a highly personal and recognisable style, thanks also to his unique “graphic lines”. His objective is to tackle projects not only in terms of the aesthetic aspects traditionally associated with design, but by developing the entire creative process, including marketing research, project conception, technical development, engineering, prototyping, design, corporate image and communication. He has become especially renowned for the projects he has developed for large groups, establishing an interior design identity for worldwide application to all headquarters. Notable examples of this include his projects for Ferrari, Maserati, Superga, Omnitel and, most recently Alitalia. As an architect, his professional development has focused on designing architectural and exhibition spaces, commercial venues and important redevelopment projects. In all these works, he has applied his concept of “full” architecture, in which the envelope is understood more as a shell than a membrane. This process has yielded projects inspired by tradition, yet their powerfully fluid lines make them unquestionably contemporary.

His most important architectural works include the Kröpcke metro station in Hanover and “The Collection”, a luxury car dealership in Coral Gables, near Miami. As to works in progress, the most notable are the One-Two building project in Miami, Florida, and the new building currently underway in Budapest for the Boscolo Group. Iosa Ghini holds conferences and lectures at various universities, including the Polytechnic Institute in Milan, the Domus Academy, the University of Rome, the Elisava School of Design in Barcelona, the Design Fachhochschule in Cologne and the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna. He has also represented Italian design at various international symposia. His works are exhibited at numerous museums and are part of international private collections. He is part of the Scientific Committee of “Markitecture, Valore in Architettura”, a project promoted by Bolognafiere for Cersaie. Three of his works have received prizes: the Good Design Award from the Chicago Atheneum in 2001 and 2004, and the Red Dot Award in 2003.