Eugenio Gerli

His mother Luciana Chiesa was the daughter of Eugenio Chiesa (Milan, 18 November 1863 - Giverny, 22 June 1930).

Eugenio Chiesa, Republican Member of Parliament, from 1922 was firmly opposed to fascism.

Eugenio Gerli (15 July 1923 – 2 October 2013) was an Italian architect and designer.

In an intense working life spanning more than six decades, Eugenio Gerli explored many different areas of his profession.

He built villas, apartment blocks, office blocks, factories, banks and stores, and also restored historic buildings.

He often completed his works with custom-made interiors and furniture.This diverse range of projects inspired his industrial design and today many have become icons, like the S83 chair, the PS 142 armchair Clamis, the Jamaica cabinet and the Graphis System.

Eugenio Cesare Gerli was born on 15 July 1923 in Milan; his father Guido (London 1892 - Milan 1987) was an English businessman.

This caused the family all sort of difficulties, culminating in the exile of Eugenio Chiesa in 1926 and the arrest of Guido, later deported to various concentration camps in Italy.

Eugenio married Marta Somarè daughter of art critic Enrico Somarè and granddaughter of painter Cesare Tallone, forebear of a great family of artists including the painter Guido Tallone, the editor and typographer Alberto Tallone and pianoforte builder Cesare Augusto Tallone.

After an initial two years at the Department of Engineering Eugenio switched to studying Architecture at the Milan Politecnico under Piero Portaluppi and Gio Ponti, both leading architects and designers.

(graduated in 1949)

Eugenio Gerli integrated his spatial ideas with innovative solutions for custom-made designed interiors.

This philosophy, together with his early studies in Engineering, helped him in the development of models for industrial design

His early work was influenced by the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto and Charles Eames.

Eugenio Gerli also loved to create a strong bond between Architecture and visual arts, collaborating with artists like Arnaldo Pomodoro, Lucio Fontana, Blasco Mentor, Pietro Cascella, Guido Somarè.

In 1949, he founded a workshop named "Forma" for the series production of experimental prototypes.

In 1950–52, he worked in collaboration with Mario Cristiani in Cardiological Clinic Villa Adele in Laveno- Mombello, to design general layout and specific technical furniture: adjustable beds and reclining armchairs for medical applications.

From 1952 to 1954, in addition to projects with plywood and "traditional" materials, he began researching and experimenting with a special resin-structured felt.

In 1954, four models "Forma" either in felt or plywood were presented at the X Triennale in the section put on by Franco Albini.

From 1954 to 1956 designed innovative seats for Padua firm Rima including:

In 1957, he started a long collaboration with Tecno S.p.A. designing many classical "icons" like the famous GRAPHIS, the " Copernican Revolution" a complete modular system for offices, the small Armchair PS142 Clamis, made of two specular twin bodies, the circular Armchair P28, the Chair S83, the " Butterfly" extendable Table T92, the nut-shell Cocktail Cabinet Jamaica.

Eugenio's sons Enrico and Guido, both Architects, joined their father in the Studio in 1977 and worked together on all projects.

Although Eugenio believed he was first and foremost an architect, today, he is remembered primarily for his furniture design.

Some of his projects have become design classics and stand in some of the world's most important collections, including the Triennale di Milano, the Centre Pompidou, the MAD Musée des Arts Décoratifs located in the Palais du Louvre's western wing and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

As a student, he started experimenting with the use of plywood.

He took part in an exhibition at Fede Cheti with an all-plywood chair with three legs.

In 2007, two of the models were selected for the permanent Triennale Collection.

The Exhibition at the Milan Triennale dedicated to Osvaldo Borsani (held from 16 May 2018- to 16 September 2018, designed by Lord Norman Foster and Tommaso Fantoni) included sixteen works of Architecture and Design by Eugenio Gerli.

This paid homage to Gerli's work and represented an important contribution to the rediscovery of this "forgotten Master" (Marco Romanelli).