Achille Castiglioni was born in Milan in 1918, the son of the well-known sculptor Giannino who was to influence his 'plastic' approach to design. After graduating in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano in 1944, he soon dedicated himself to experimenting with industrial products together with his brothers Livio (1911-1979) and Pier Giacomo (1913-1968), with whom he set up a studio, first in C.so di Porta Nuova and then, from 1962, in Piazza Castello, Milan. In the 1940s he went through a period of experimentation with forms, materials and techniques, publishing his first design project, the aluminium handle 'Pomolo' (1945). In 1950 he introduced the theme of 're-design': traditional objects re-designed with the aim of bringing them up to date in terms of their communicative value. This gave rise to the 'Leonardo' and 'Bramante' tables (1950) for Zanotta and the famous 'Mezzadro' (1957) and 'Sella' (1957). He became an artistic consultant for ANIE and RAI, and in 1956 he was a founding member of ADI. In the same period, he devoted himself to interior design and exhibition design, creating iconic projects such as the Sala Movil (1953) and the Sala dei prodotti chimici (1954, in collaboration with Bruno Munari) at the Montecatini Pavilion; the Industrial Design section at the 10th Milan Triennale (1954); the ENI Pavilion (1955); the private cinema for the Rizzoli family (1956); the Splügen Braü brewery (1960). After the death of his brother Pier Giacomo (1968) his production shifted more and more towards industrial design, in the direction of continuity and reproducibility of environments. Achille Castiglioni received numerous awards during his career, including 9 Compassi d'Oro. His works are exhibited in museums all over the world.