Franco Poli

Franco Poli was born in Padua in 1950 and studied art and architecture in Venice, where he met Isamu Noguchi and Buckminster Fuller. He signed his first industrial product in 1974, was art director of Bernini from 1979 to 2009, and in 1986 created the aeronaval division of Poltrona Frau, designing the Forum and I Madrigali collections.

He opened his own studio in Venice in 1986 and has taught as visiting professor at the UIA in Florence and at the Politecnico di Milano, holding the design course at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice from 1989 to 1996. His products are held by the Denver Art Museum, the Fonds National d’Art Contemporain in Paris and the Triennale in Milan; he has won five Good Design Awards and an honourable mention at the 2008 Compasso d’Oro. He lives and works in Verona, designing for Midj and Matteograssi.