The Milanese designer Piero Castiglioni was born in Lierna (Como), Italy in 1944.
He graduated in architecture in 1970 in Milan, devoting most of his energies to lighting technology, creating luminaires and lighting systems for museums and both public and private settings.
In 1972, he together with Ugo La Pietra took part in the "Italy: the new domestic landscape" show in the New Yorker Museum of Modern Art.
From 1973 to 1979, he collaborated with his father, Livio Castiglioni, to whom he owes his excellent training.
Since 1989, Castiglioni has been running "Flare", the four-monthly magazine dedicated to light.
Castiglioni worked as a designer for Fontana Arte, Osram, Stilnovo and Venini, and as a theatre consultant for problems of an electro-acoustic or lighting nature. Furthermore he was the author of lighting systems for the Centre G. Pompidou in Paris (1985), Palazzo Grassi in Venice (1985) and, together with Gae Aulenti, for the Gare d’Orsay station in Paris (1986) and for the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro.
His collaboration with the firm iGuzzini dates back to the setting up of the industrialisation process of the "Cestello" luminaire, developed together with Gae Aulenti.
In 1992, he conducted the design of the Italian Pavilion at the Expo world show in Seville, again in collaboration with Gae Aulenti.
In 1998, he was in charge of the lighting technology project of the Expo world show in Lisbon. Between 1999 and 2000, he worked together with Renzo Piano in the elaboration of the lighting technology project for the refurbishment of the Beaubourg.
In 2000, on behalf of the municipality of Milan, he designed new lighting for a few areas of the city, such as the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and Corso Vittorio Emanuele.
In 2001, he created and realised the lighting for the new Museum of Latin American Art in Buenos Aires, where the Costantini collection is housed.
For the realisation of all these projects, Castiglioni used both the products and the lighting technology consultancy of iGuzzini technicians.
His most famous design projects are the "Parola" lamp (1980) together with Gae Aulenti, the "Edy" (1982) and "Scintilla" (1983) systems, all for Fontana Arte.
After the process of the "Cestello" system, he has developed many other luminaires for the firm iGuzzini.
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