Giotto Stoppino & Ludovico Acerbis Biography
Giotto Stoppino (1926 - 2011) and Lodovico Acerbis (1939 - 2021) Giotto Stoppino was born in Vigevano (PV) in 1926, Italian architect and designer is known for being among the first designers to use plastic in his projects and products made famous from companies like Kartell. A pupil of Ernesto Nathan Rogers, one of the inspiring exponents of neo-liberty, after completing his studies at the Iuav University of Venice and the Polytechnic of Milan, in 1953 he associated himself with the architects Vittorio Gregotti and Lodovico Meneghetti (Associate Architects 1953-1968, Novara). From this collaboration some experimental projects in the field of architecture and design were born: the workers' houses in Cameri (Novara), the rental houses in Novara, the Cavour armchair created by the Novara-based company Sim, created through a skilful curvature of solid wood . Again with Gregotti and Meneghetti in 1967 he designed the 537 table lamp for Arteluce and, alone, the set of circular stackable tables for Kartell (1971). In 1968 he opened an independent studio and dedicated himself mainly to home design, collaborating with some of the major Italian companies including: Acerbis, ArteLuce, Bernini, Calligaris, Driade, Heller New York, La Rinascente, Kartell, Raak Amsterdam, Rexite , Uchida Tokyo, Zanotta. His activity ranges from architecture, to urban planning, to design. He participated in numerous editions of the Milan Triennale and in 1972 he exhibited two works at the exhibition Italy: The New Domestic Landscape at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and in 1984 he presented one of the six environments and three products at the Design Furniture from Italy exhibition in Tokyo. He won the Compasso d'Oro three times, in 1979 for the Sheraton sideboard (together with Lodovico Acerbis for Acerbis International), in 1991 for the Alessia handle system (Olivari) and in 2011 when he was awarded the Compasso d'Oro for lifetime achievement on the occasion of the XXII edition of the award. He also receives two honorable mentions: Compasso d'Oro '60 and '70 Award. Since 1970 it has been present in the permanent collection of the MoMA, Museum of Modern Art in New York with the 537 lamp by Arteluce, while the Sheraton furniture by Acerbis has been present since 1981 in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, other of its projects are exhibited in the museums of Munich and Chicago. Entrepreneur, designer, creative and writer, Lodovico Acerbis (1939-2021) was born in 1939 in Bergamo and graduated in Economics and Commerce. In 1963 he joined the company founded by his grandfather which he transformed from a carpentry workshop into an industrial and who he will drive until 2013. In 1977 he meets Stoppino. For 15 years they worked together around a common idea: to design furniture that facilitated storage. This is how the Sheraton (1977) and Hilton (1979) sideboards were created. The two designers have received numerous awards, including the Compasso d'Oro in Italy and the Silver Award from the Institute of Business Design in New York. Although they subsequently no longer worked together, Acerbis continued its research into storage capacity.
