Richard Sapper

Richard Supper was born in Munich in 1932. There he studied philosophy, graphics, engineering and political economics. In 1956 he worked in the design office of Mercedes Benz. In 1958 he moved to Milan, where he initially worked with Gio Ponti, then for La Rinascente. Together with Marco Zanuso, he designed radios and televisions for Brionvega, the Grillo telephone for Siemens, furniture and lamps and more. Always interested in the design of technically complex products, his projects range from ships to watches, from computers to furniture, up to kitchen utensils.  He has taught at prestigious Italian and foreign universities including Yale University, the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst in Vienna, the Academy of Art in Stuttgart, the Domus Academy in Milan, the University of Buenos Aires, the Royal College of Art in London. Sapper and has received numerous awards, many of which are exhibited in the permanent collections of the most important museums internationally. Since 1988 he has been an Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. In 2009 he received the German Design Council's career award and in 2012 the President of the Federal Republic of Germany presented him with the Cross of Merit. Richard Sapper passed away on 31 December 2015.