Giancarlo Piretti was born in Bologna in 1940. He attended the State Institute of Art in Bologna, where he obtained the title of Design Teacher. In 1960 he attended the Accademia di Belle Arti (Fine Arts Academy) of Bologna. Subsequently, for seven years, he was a teacher of Industrial Design at the State Institute of Art of Bologna. During the same period, for 12 years, he worked as interior designer for Anonima Castelli, designing their furniture lines for home, office and communities, for which he registered numerous industrial and mechanical invention patents. His best known projects include PLIA, a folding chair, PLATONE, a folding table, DSC (106-AXIS), a system of seats for communities and institutional spaces, and SISTEMA 61, a modular divans system.
Giancarlo Piretti participates in many Italian design competitions, obtaining prizes and special mentions. In 1971 he received the SMAU prize and the BIO 5 Distinction at the Ljubliana biennial exhibition, Slovenia for Plia. In 1973, he was assigned – as ever for PLIA – the GUTE FORM mention of the Chamber of Commerce of the German Federal Republic, and a special mention by the British Government. In 1971 PLANO won the gold medal at IBD (USA). For the VERTEBRA seating system: in 1977 he was awarded, jointly with Emilio Ambasz, the gold medal by BD (USA), the SMAU prize in 1979 and the Compasso d’Oro (Gold Compass) (Italy) in 1981. As ever jointly with Ambasz, in 1980 he was assigned the “National Industrial Design Award” (USA) for LOGOTEC, a lighting system. In 1975 Giancarlo Piretti was appointed a member of the Scientific-Didactic Committee of the Superior Institute for Artistic industries of Florence. His work is often published in numerous international magazines.
