Osvaldo Borsani

The focal point of Astep’s exhibition at Palazzo Litta during this year’s Milan Design Week is an ingenious, multifaceted luminaire design by Gino Sarfatti from 1959 that has not been in production since the 1970s.

A creative pioneer, visionary entrepreneur, and technological innovator, Osvaldo Borsani (Varedo 1911- Milano 1985) was designing products from an early age until the early 1980s. Borsani is widely regarded as one of the most prominent figures in the era of Italian modernism.

Growing up in a creative environment, being the son of a cabinet maker, he would study Beaux-Arts and train as an architect in Milan while the city was a flourishing artistic centre of design and technological progress, merging craftmanship and modern manufacturing.

In 1953, Borsani founded Tecno together with his twin brother Fulgenzio. The company took a leading position and change the world of contract furniture in the 20^th century with distinctively elegant designs, using innovative technology to express original ideas. Some of the designs for Tecno are regarded as iconic design works of the mid-century period.

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