Anna Castelli Ferrieri was born in Milan, Italy in 1920. She studied architecture at Milan Polytechnic from 1938 until 1943.
In 1946/47 Anna Castelli Ferrieri was editor of the architecture magazine "Casabella costruzioni" in Milan.
In 1949 her husband Giulio Castelli, a chemical engineer, founded Kartell to make high-quality designer objects of plastic.
From 1955 to 1960 she was a correspondent for "Architectural Design" magazine.
In 1956 she co-founded the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI).
Between 1959 and 1973 Anna Castelli Ferrieri collaborated with the architect Ignazio Gardella on several architectural projects, primarily urban planning projects in Milan, Turin, Genoa, and other cities.
She also worked in industrial design from 1965, designing objects for Kartell as well as Apelli e Varesio, Artex, Lanerossi, Nirvana and Ycami.
In 1966 Anna Castelli Ferrieri became a design consultant with Kartell. Experimenting with different kinds of plastic, she designed many innovative designer objects.