Achille Castiglione was born in 1918 in Milan, and studied architecture at the Polytechnic in Milan. Just after World War II he joined the studio run by his two older brothers, Livio and Pier Giacomo, also architects. After Livio left the practice in 1952, Achille and Pier Giacomo collaborated until the latter's premature death in 1968. Working alone since then, Achille has continued to innovate in the field of design, and has received countless awards for his work from organizations all over the world. In 1997, he was the subject of a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Paola Antonelli has been curator of the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, since 1994. She has taught at the University of California in Los Angeles and has lectured extensively on design in North America, Japan, and Europe.

This new monograph documents the work of international master of design Achille Castiglioni. During his half-century career, Castiglioni has designed over 150 objects, including lamps, stools, bookshelves, electrical switches, cameras, telephones, vacuum cleaners, and car seats. Many of his designs, like the Arco and Brera lamps, the Firenze wall clock, the RR 126 stereo system, and the Primate seat, achieve the highest standards of visual art as well as design, and several of his works are featured in the design collections of major museums. Taking as his motto ''Design demands observation,'' Castiglioni has created objects that are inspired by and respond to the demands of everyday life, basing some of his most famous designs on quotidian objects like a street lamps or a car's front reflector. His work is marked throughout by an attention both to the timeless essentials of great design and to the changing behavior and values of modern culture. This catalogue presents the highlights of Castiglioni's 50-year career in design in sumptuous reproductions, documenting an oeuvre that constitutes one of the highest expressions of contemporary creativity.