Matteo Thun
Architect and designer Matteo Thun, born in Bolzano, Italy (1952), studied at the Academy of Salzburg with Oskar Kokoschka and at the University of Florence. In Milan, with Ettore Sottsass, he founded the Memphis group and was a partner of Sottsass Associati from 1980 to 1984. He taught design from 1983 to 2000 at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna (Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst). From 1990 to 1993 he served as art director for Swatch before opening his own office in Milan in 1984.
In 2001 he founded Matteo Thun & Partners, working internationally on architectural, interior, and product design projects, ranging from a small to large scale, in collaboration with partners Luca Colombo, Herbert Rathmaier, and Antonio Rodriguez. The office includes a team of 50 international professionals, architects, interior designers, product designers, and graphic designers. The continuous interdisciplinary challenge is the successful formula of the office.
Matteo Thun has won the ADI Compasso d’Oro Award for design excellence three times as well as the Wallpaper* Design Award in 2010. The recipient of many other awards, Thun was given the Interior Innovation Award by the German Design Council in 2013; won the Good Design Award in 2011 for Onto, designed for Duravit; the Simon Taylor Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2011 from Designer Magazine; and the Good Design Award in 2012 for the Savoy line and the Green Good Design Award in 2011 for the Isy System—both designed for Zucchetti. Thun’s Side Hotel in Hamburg was chosen as Hotel of the Year in 2001, the Vigilius mountain resort won the Wallpaper* Design Award in 2004, and the Radisson SAS Frankfurt was recognized by Worldwide Hospitality Awards as the best hotel opened in 2005. He was awarded the Prix Acier for the Hugo Boss Strategic Business Unit in Switzerland in 2007.
Matteo Thun was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame in New York in December 2004 and is a member of RIBA, the Royal Association of British Architects.
In April 2013, Hatje Cantz published Matteo Thun: The Index Book, a comprehensive selection of Matteo Thun's architecture and product design achievements from his earliest works to the present.
Announcements
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy by John Lobell
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy
By John Lobell
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: June 2020
Noted Louis I.Kahn expert John Lobell explores how Kahn’s focus on structure, respect for materials, clarity of program, and reverence for details come together to manifest an overall philosophy.
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
By Per Olaf Fjeld and Emily Randall Fjeld
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: October 4, 2019
A new and personal reading of the architecture, teachings, and legacy of Louis I. Kahn from Per Olaf Fjeld’s perspective as a former student. The book explores Kahn’s life and work, offering a unique take on one of the twentieth century’s most important architects. Kahn’s Nordic and European ties are emphasized in this study that also covers his early childhood in Estonia, his travels, and his relationships with other architects, including the Norwegian architect Arne Korsmo.
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Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
Teaching Graphic Design History by Steven Heller
Teaching Graphic Design History
By Steven Heller
Publisher: Allworth Press
Published: June 2019
An examination of the concerted efforts, happy accidents, and key influences of the practice throughout the years, Teaching Graphic Design History is an illuminating resource for students, practitioners, and future teachers of the subject.
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