Architect and designer Gianfranco Frattini (Padua 1926 – Milan 2004) was one of the most important figures on the Italian art scene. He graduated with a degree in Architecture from the Politecnico di Milano in 1953. Frattini opened his own professional practice in Milan, after having worked in the office of his teacher and mentor Gio Ponti. In 1956 he co-founded ADI – Associazione per il Disegno Industriale – and throughout his career he practised both industrial design and architecture, focusing mostly on interiors. He was a board member of the Triennale di Milano. Great connoisseur of wood craftsmanship, he forged a long and fruitful professional partnership with the master craftsman Pierluigi Ghianda.
Frattini’s work can be defined as an organic whole, infusing the souls of all the spaces he designed. Every element, down to the smallest of objects, was designed in relationship to the overall scheme. Fluid interiors spaces were studied down to the last detail, and even ceilings were the objects of special attention. The same care was devoted to furniture, lighting and furnishings. Frattini followed all steps of the production of every object, going to laboratories, research and development departments and assembly lines to find solutions together with manufacturers.
