Livio Castiglioni

Livio Castiglioni studied at Polytechnic University of Milan. Training under Giannino Castiglioni is recorded. The recorded working language is Italian. The field of work recorded is design, industrial design and lighting design. Giannino Castiglioni is recorded as an influence. Places of work recorded in the authority are Milan and Lierna. Residence is recorded at Lierna. Employment is recorded with Polytechnic University of Milan, Phonola and Brionvega. Works named in the authority record are Boalum. Work by Livio Castiglioni is recorded in the collections of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia "Leonardo da Vinci", ADI Design Museum, Centre Georges Pompidou and Saint Louis Art Museum. Distinctions recorded are Compasso d'Oro.

• Name — Livio Castiglioni • Born — 16 January 1911 • Birthplace — Milan, Kingdom of Italy • Died — 30 April 1979 • Place of death — Milan, Italy • Field — * Architecture • Design • Training — Politecnico di Milano • Illustration — Boalum lamp designed for Artemide in 1969–1970 (with Gianfranco Frattini)

Livio Castiglioni was born in Milan on 16 January 1911. He was the son of Livia Bolla and the sculptor Giannino Castiglioni, and the elder brother of the architects Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni. He received a degree in architecture from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1936, and subsequently went into practice with his brother Pier Giacomo and Luigi Caccia Dominioni. After the Second World War the youngest Castiglioni brother, Achille, joined their architecture and design studio; in the mid-1950s Livio left to establish his own design practice.

• Illustration — Tabletop radio designed for Phonola SA in 1939 (with Luigi Caccia Dominioni and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni) Much of the early work of the Castiglioni brothers was in exhibition design, although they also carried out a number of architectural projects, including the reconstruction in 1952–1953 of the Palazzo della Permanente in Milan, which had been destroyed by Allied bombing in 1943. Livio Castiglioni designed products for companies such as Alessi, Artemide, FontanaArte, and Stilnovo. One of his first works of industrial design was the 1939 "F.I.M.I. – Phonola 547" tabletop radio, which is amongst the earliest examples of this product typology to challenge traditional shapes and aesthetics, making it a turning point in the history of Italian industrial design. He was a consultant to Phonola until 1956, and then for Brionvega from 1960 to 1964. In 1969–1970 he and Gianfranco Frattini designed the "Boalum" light for Artemide (the name combines "Boa" and "lum" from "lume", an Italian word for light). The design was still in production in 2023, over fifty years after it was first manufactured. Castiglioni was one of the founding members of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale in Milan and was its president in 1959–1960. He is also credited as being one of the originators of the Compasso d'Oro award. Working as a lighting designer throughout the 1960s and 1970s Castiglioni collaborated with many of his contemporaries such as the architects Gae Aulenti, Cini Boeri, Cesare Maria Casati and Roberto Menghi, as well as his son Piero Castiglioni.

Livio Castiglioni worked in design, industrial design, lighting design, urban planning and sound. His work is associated with The Castiglioni Method. He was employed by Polytechnic University of Milan, Phonola, Brionvega, Alessi and Artemide. He worked at Milan and Lierna.