Alberto Meda (born 1945) is an Italian engineer and designer. His work is held in museums around the world. He works and lives in Milan.

Early life

Meda was born in Tremezzina, in the Italian province of Como in 1945, and graduated with a laurea in mechanical engineering at the Politecnico di Milano in 1969.

Career

In 1973 he became the technical director and head of planning at Kartell, in charge of furniture and plastic laboratory equipment projects.

Design

In 1979 he worked as a freelance industrial designer for companies such as Alfa Romeo Auto, Alias, Alessi, Arabia-Finland, Cinelli, Colombo design, Brevetti Gaggia, JCDecaux, Ideal Standard, Luceplan, Legrand, Mandarina Duck, Omron Japan, Philips, Olivetti, and Vitra. Meda came to design from engineering, bringing a pragmatic mind and an attention to details in materials and production process. His applied-science background shaped Meda’s designs that are modern in form, and organic in feel. This sophistication caught the eye of Rolf Fehlbaum, chairman of Swiss manufacturer Vitra, who commissioned the engineer to design a chair. This collaboration resulted in seating pieces such as the MedaPro and the MedaPal.

Teaching and research

From 1983 he was a lecturer on industrial technology at Domus Academy, which lasted until 1987. He conducted seminars at International Design Symposium in Fukui, at Workshop Design Quest in Osaka, and at Design Center in Tokyo. From 1995 he was a lecturer at Politecnico of Milan "Corso di Laurea di Disegno Industriale" with a design lab. From 1995 to 1997 he was a member of Board of Designlabor Bremerhaven. From 2003 to 2007 he lectured at IUAV in Venice with design workshops. In 2016, he became a member of the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano. He gave lectures and seminars at Chicago, Washington University, in Stockholm, Miami, San Paulo, Taipei, Ulm, Istanbul, Toronto, Mexico, Hong Kong, Firenze, Oslo, Istanbul, Lausanne, and Seoul.

Recognition

Museums

Meda's designs are held in the permanent collection of museums such as the Museum of Modern Art of Toyama, the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Examples of these works include the "Light light " chair (1987), the "Soft light" chair (1989), the "Longframe" by Alias (1991), and the "On-Off" lamp by Luceplan (1988). In 2023 the Triennale di Milano staged a retrospective in of his work titled Alberto Meda: Tension and Lightness.

Awards