Profile
Born in Tremezzina (Como) in 1945.
Master in Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico of Milan in 1969.
From 1973 technical manager of Kartell, in charge of the development of projects of furniture and plastic laboratory equipments.
Since 1979 freelance industrial designer for various companies: Alfa Romeo Auto, Alias, Alessi, Arabia–Finland ,Cinelli, Colombo design, Brevetti Gaggia, JcDecaux, Ideal Standard, Luceplan, Legrand, Mandarina Duck, Omron Japan, Philips, Olivetti, Vitra, etc.
Exibitions
"Creativitalia" Tokio1990, and a personal exhibition at the “Design Gallery”, Matzuia Ginza in Tokio1990.
“XVIII Triennale in Milan” 1992, "The lightness" section of "Il giardino delle cose".
"Mestieri d'Autore "1993 in Siena
"Design, miroir du siècle", at the section "Le sens et la matière", Paris 1993
“Mutant materials in contemporary design“ at MOMA – NewYork 1995,
Meda – Rizzatto exibition at Binnen Galerie–Amsterdam 1996
Lighting Affinities –Milano 1996
Designer of the Year , personal at Salon du Meuble – Paris 1999
"Italia e Giappone design come stile di vita" – Yokohama, Kobe 2001
Design and Elastic Mind– Moma 2008
Triennale di Milano Il Design Italiano oltre le crisi – 2014
Youthful – spazio Domus, Milano 2015
The Bauhaus#itsalldesign. Vitra Design Museum 2015
Teaching and research
From 1983 to 1987 lecturer on industrial technology at Domus Academy.
Seminars at International Design Symposium in Fukui , at Workshop Design Quest in Osaka, and at Design Center in Tokyo.
From 1995 lecturer at Politecnico of Milan "Corso di Laurea di Disegno Industriale" with a design lab.
From 1995 to 1997 member of Board of Designlabor Bremerhaven
From 2003 to 2007 lecturer at IUAV in Venice with design workshops.
From 2016 Member of the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano
Several lectures and seminars such as Chicago, St.Louis at Washington University, Stockolm, Miami, San Paulo, Taipei, Ulm, Istanbul, Toronto, Mexico, HongKong, Firenze, Oslo, Istanbul, Lausanne, Seul , Chicago
Awards
1989 "Compasso d'oro" Lola lamp(Luceplan)
1994 "Compasso d'oro" "Metropoli" lamps (Luceplan)
2008 "Compasso d'oro" MIX lamp (Luceplan)
2011 "Compasso d'oro" Teak table(Alias)
2016 "Compasso d'oro" Flap acoustic panel (Caimi Brevetti)
2005 “Hon Royal Designer for Industry” Londra RSA
2007 "INDEX:award" Solar Bottle
1992 "Design Plus” Titania lamp, Luceplan
1994 "European Design Prize", Luceplan
1995 "Industrie Forum design" Hannover UNI – X family lamps,
1996 "Industrie Forum design" Hannover Titania Clamp lamp
1997 Good design Gold Prize–Japan Meda chair, Vitra
1998 I.D design review ’Best of category’ Meda chair, Vitra
1999 Designer of the year, Salon du Meuble de Paris
2000 Bundespreis Produktdesign Meda chair, Vitra
2001 Good Design Award Chicago Athenaeum Water Jug, Arabia
2002 Reddot Award knives, Iittala Finland
2006 "Design Plus" e “Light of the future” MIX lamp, Luceplan
2012 Best of – Design Plus per OttoWatt, Luceplan
2014 Best of Neocon (U.S.A) Silver Award Flap, Caimi Brevetti
2015 German Design Award Flap, Caimi Brevetti
2016 DesignEuropa Awards (EUIPO) Flap, Caimi Brevetti
2016 Good Design Award Chicago Athenaeum Origami, Tubes
Some products are part of permanent collection of Museum of Modern Art of Toyama and since 1994 The Museum of Modern Art in New York, includes in its Design Collection "Light light" chair 1987, "Soft light" chair 1989, “Longframe” 1991 by Alias, and "On–Off" lamp by Luceplan 1988.
Bibliography
Alberto Meda di Francesca Picchi
Collana Prontuario– Abitare Segesta edizioni – 2003
Il design di Alberto Meda–Una concreta leggerezza
di Domitilla Dardi Ed. Electa 2005
I Protagonisti del design–Hachette 2012 – Alberto Meda
He works and lives in Milan.
