![Mario_Bellini_designed_dashboard_for_the_Lancia_Trevi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Mario_Bellini_designed_dashboard_for_the_Lancia_Trevi.jpg)
Mario Bellini (born February 1, 1935 in Milan) is an Italian architect, critic, and designer. He received a degree in architecture from
Milan Polytechnic in 1959 and began working as an architect in the early 1960s. Like many other Italian architects of his generation, he is active in the fields of architecture and urban planning,
industrial design
Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...
,
product design
Product design as a verb is to create a new product to be sold by a business to its customers. A very broad coefficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products. Thus, it is a major aspect of n ...
and furniture design.
His designs have won 8
Compasso d’Oro awards, and he has received awards including the Gold Medal for Architecture at the 2015 Milan Triennale, and a "Medaglia d’Oro" conferred on him by the President of the Italian Republic.
Design
In 1963 Bellini became a consultant for
Olivetti
Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been part of ...
where he worked on the design of the
Programma 101
The Olivetti Programma 101, also known as Perottina or P101, is one of the first "all in one" commercial desktop programmable calculators, although not the first.
Produced by Italian manufacturer Olivetti, based in Ivrea, Piedmont, and invented b ...
, a precursor to the desktop computer. He continued to collaborate with Olivetti throughout the 1970s and 1980s. During this time he was involved in the design of many of the company's iconic products, such as the Lexicon 82 Electric Typewriter and the Divisumma 28 Electronic Printing Calculator.
He has worked with other companies such as
B&B Italia
B&B Italia SpA is an Italian modern furniture company whose products are sold worldwide. The company was founded in 1966 by the Busnelli family, who manages the company. On March 1, 2011, the Busnelli family became majority shareholders of the co ...
,
Brionvega
Brionvega is an Italian electronics company that is known for manufacturing futuristic televisions and audio equipment. The company was founded in 1939 by Giuseppe Brion and Leone Pajettain in Milan. Initially named B.P.M. Radio, the company w ...
,
Cassina, Heller, Flou, Yamaha, Renault, Rosenthal, Tecno, Riva 1920,
Vitra, and
Kartell
Kartell is an Italian company that makes and sells plastic contemporary furniture. It is headquartered in Noviglio, Metropolitan City of Milan, Italy, and it is a subsidiary of Felofin.
History
The company began manufacturing automobile access ...
.
For many years he designed furnishing products and systems for B&B Italia and Cassina. He designed TV sets, hi-fi systems, headphones, and electric organs for Yamaha. For five years, he worked as an automobile design consultant with
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...
. He has also designed for Fiat and Lancia (notably the interior of the 1980
Lancia Trevi
The Lancia Trevi (Type 828), initially marketed as the Lancia Beta Trevi, is a saloon car that was produced between 1980 and 1984. It has transversely mounted in-line four-cylinder engines driving the front wheels. Its engines have twin overhead c ...
); lamps for
Artemide
__NOTOC__
Artemide () is a design-oriented Italian manufacturer founded by Ernesto Gismondi and Sergio Mazza in 1960. Based in Pregnana Milanese, a suburb of Milan, the company specialises in the manufacture of lighting designed by designers an ...
, Erco and Flos; and office furniture for
Vitra.
Other firms for whom he has designed products and/or continues to design products include (in Italy) Acerbis, Bras, Driade, Candy, Castilia,
Flou, Kartell, Marcatrè, Meritalia,
Natuzzi
Natuzzi Group () is an Italian high end furniture company founded in 1959 by Pasquale Natuzzi, the group's Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Group Stylist. It designs, produces and markets sofas, armchairs and living room accessories. Natuzz ...
and
Poltrona Frau
Poltrona Frau is a furniture-maker founded in 1912 by Sardinian-born Renzo Frau in Turin, Italy, headquartered since the early 1960s in Tolentino, Italy and specializing in leather seating for interior and automotive applications. The company nam ...
; (in Belgium)
Ideal Standard
Ideal Standard is a privately held multinational plumbing fixture company headquartered in Belgium. It operates primarily in Europe and Latin America. The brand dates back to 1949, when it was used to brand fixtures of the foreign operations of t ...
; (in Germany)
Lamy
Lamy is a German pen manufacturing company. Josef Lamy, who was a sales representative for Parker Pen in Germany, founded the business in 1930 by purchasing the Orthos pen manufacturer. Lamy was a pioneer in the use of moulded synthetic pla ...
and
Rosenthal; (in Japan) Fuji and Zojirushi; and (in the USA) Heller.
In 1972 Bellini was commissioned to design and build the prototype of the Kar-a-Sutra mobile environment for the exhibition “Italy: the New Domestic Landscape” at the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in New York. His Camaleonda modular sofa system, produced until 1979 by B&B Italia, was also shown in this exhibition.
In 1987 the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
of New York devoted a personal retrospective exhibition to Bellini's career. At the time, the museum already included 25 of his works in its permanent collection, including a set of Olivetti machines, furniture designed in collaboration with B&B and Cassina, and the office chairs he designed for Vitra.
Mario Bellini Architects is headquartered in Milan. The 1,500 square meter building designed by Mario Bellini himself in the early 1990s. In 1999, MBA obtained ISO 9001 quality certification. Today the firm employs an average of 30 to 35 architects.
Architecture
Since the 1980s, Bellini has designed buildings in Europe, Japan, the United States, Australia and the Arab Emirates.
Projects built
* Milan Convention Centre (
MICO People
* Mićo Janić (born 1979), Croatian sprint canoer
* Mićo Ljubibratić (1839–1889), Serbian revolutionary
* Mico Palanca (1978–2019), Filipino actor
* Mićo Smiljanić (born 1974), Serbian/Montenegrin footballer
* Mićo Stanišić (born ...
), Europe’s largest convention centre, 2008-2012
* Museum of Islamic Arts at Louvre Museum, Paris, 2005-2012
*
Museum of the City of Bologna, Italy, 2004-2012
* Urban redevelopment “Verona Forum”, Verona, Italy, 2004–2011
* Radical refurbishment of the
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...
in Frankfurt, Germany, 2007–2011
*
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum.
The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...
extension and redevelopment, Melbourne, Australia, 1996–2003
* Essen International Fair Extension, Germany, 1998–2001
* Natuzzi Americas Headquarters, High Point, North Carolina, USA, 1996–1998
* Arsoa Co./Cosmetics- Headquarters, Yamanashi, Japan, 1996–1998
* New fair district of the Milan Trade Fair, 1987–1997
* Risonare Vivre Club Complex, Kobuchizawa, Japan, 1989–1992
* Tokyo Design Center, Tokyo, Japan, 1988–1992
* Yokohama Business Park, Yokohama, Japan, 1987–1991
*
Villa Erba Exhibition and Congress Centre, Cernobbio (Como), 1986–1990
* Thermoelectric power plant of Cassano d’Adda-Office building, 1985–1990
Projects under construction
* Architectural project of a large Scientific-Technological Park at Erzelli Hill, Genoa, Italy, 2005
* Extension and redevelopment of the Pinacoteca di Brera Milan (one of the major Italian Art Gallery), 2009
* New Cultural Centre of Turin, 2001 (to be started)
Among the best architectural creations
* New Museum of the city of Berlin, Germany, 2008
* Sheikh Zayed National Museum International Competition, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2007
* European Patent Office, L’Aja, Holland, 2004
* Cittanova 2000, Modena, Italy, 2003
* Redevelopment of the City Centre of Tian Jin, China, 2003
*
Banca CR Firenze
Banca Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze S.p.A. known as Banca CR Firenze, was an Italian savings bank. Once a listed company, the group now part of Intesa Sanpaolo since 2007.
History
Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze (The Saving Bank of Florence) was fou ...
-New H.Q., Italy, 2003
* New International Trade Fair of Milan – Rho/Pero, Milan, 2002
* Multifunctional Complex “MAB. Zeil Project”, Frankfurt, Germany, 2002
* Stolitza Towers, Moscow, 1996
* Dubai Creek Complex, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1994
* Goshikidai Marine Resort, Japan, 1993
Exhibitions
An avid art lover and collector, Bellini has been responsible for the exhibition design of many art exhibitions, among which:
*"The Treasure of St. Marco in Venice", Grand Palais, Paris, and the major museums around the world, 1984–87
*"Italian Art in the 20th Century", Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1989
*"The Renaissance from Brunelleschi to Michelangelo. The Representation of Architecture",
Palazzo Grassi
Palazzo Grassi (also known as the Palazzo Grassi-Stucky) is a building in the Venetian Classical style located on the Grand Canal of Venice (Italy), between the Palazzo Moro Lin and the campo San Samuele.
History First owners
During the 16th cen ...
, Venice, then in Paris and Berlin, 1994–95
*"The Triumphs of Baroque. Architecture in Europe 1600-1750", Stupinigi Hunting Palace, Turin, 1999
*"Christopher Dresser. A designer at the Court of Queen Victoria", Triennale, Milan, 2001
*“Annisettanta. Il decennio lungo del secolo breve”, Triennale, 2007–2008
*“Magnificenza e Progetto” Palazzo Reale, Milan, 2008–2009
Major solo exhibitions
*In 1987, the Museum of Modern Art in New York organized an exhibition entitled “Mario Bellini: designer”
*In 1996, the
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...
(RIBA) held an exhibition of Bellini’s work as an architect
*In 2000, the Municipal Gallery of Contemporary Art of Trento, Italy held a personal show entitled “Mario Bellini: a path between architecture, furniture and cars”
*In December 2003, the
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum.
The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...
in Melbourne reopened with a major exhibition on his work
References
*
External links
Bellini Studios website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellini, Mario
1935 births
Living people
Architects from Milan
Italian industrial designers
Chartered designers
Polytechnic University of Milan alumni
Olivetti people
20th-century Italian architects
Domus (magazine) editors
Furniture designers
Product designers
Compasso d'Oro Award recipients