DesignerItalian
Piero Lissoni
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Piero Lissoni was born on 23 July 1956 in Seregno, a town in the Brianza district north of Milan that has long supplied the Italian furniture industry with both craftsmen and clients. He studied architecture at the Politecnico di Milano, and his formation sits at the intersection of architecture, industrial design, and graphic communication - a breadth he has maintained throughout his career.
In 1985 he took his first major industry role, becoming art director and designer for Boffi, the kitchen and bathroom brand. This relationship placed him at the centre of the Italian design system at a pivotal moment: the shift from individual object-making toward total brand coherence. In 1986, together with Nicoletta Canesi, he founded the studio that has evolved into Lissoni & Partners, now operating from offices in Milan and New York, and encompassing architecture, landscape, interior design, product design, and graphic design under a single practice.
Lissoni's formal language is characterised by rigorous proportion, a preference for materials that age well - stone, powder-coated steel, thick-cut glass, natural leather - and a studied restraint that avoids decorative gesture in favour of structural clarity. The Extrasoft sofa for Living Divani (2008), with its deeply upholstered cushions and deliberately informal silhouette, became one of the defining lounge pieces of its decade. The Flat modular sideboard for Cassina (1999) demonstrated a different register: geometric precision and a system logic that allows the piece to expand or contract within a room. For Kartell he designed the Piuma chair, an exercise in lightness through material efficiency.
Beyond products, Lissoni has served as art director for a cluster of brands simultaneously: Alpi, B&B Italia (appointed artistic director in 2021), Boffi, Living Divani, Lema, Lualdi, Porro, and Sanlorenzo yachts (from 2018). For Sanlorenzo, he developed the SX-series crossover yachts, treating the interior as an open-plan living environment rather than a sequence of cabins - an approach that draws directly from residential architecture. His hotel projects include the Conservatorium in Amsterdam (2012), The Middle House in Shanghai (2018), Grand Park Hotel in Rovinj (2019), the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Miami Beach (2020), Shangri-La Shougang Park in Beijing (2021), and the Dorothea Hotel in Budapest (2023).
Among his awards: two Compasso d'Oro ADI prizes, a Compasso d'Oro Career Award, the Good Design Award, the Red Dot Award, Elle Decor International Design Award, and the Wallpaper Design Award. His work has been exhibited widely and is held in permanent design collections internationally. At auction in the Nordic market, Lissoni's furniture appears regularly at Stockholms Auktionsverk and Bukowskis. The 30 recorded lots include chairs, sofas, storage, and tables, with a set of three Flat sideboards for Cassina achieving 12,856 SEK and a conference table reaching 8,000 SEK. Living Divani pieces - including the Curve Armchair and Cafe Armchair - typically sell in the 4,000-4,400 SEK range.