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Italian architect and designer Angelo Mangiarotti was known for applying a personal and humanistic approach to functional design. Born in Milan in 1921, he earned a degree in architecture from Milan Politecnico in 1948. Mangiarotti was fascinated by the methods and techniques employed in city-planning and architecture in addition to a passion for beauty and design. In 1953, while serving as a guest lecturer at the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago he made connections to Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Walter Gropius.

Mangiarotti returned to Italy in 1955 establishing a firm with Bruno Morasutti, later opening his own firm in 1960. His inventive nature and craftsmanship was employed in numerous projects from marble bowls and glass collections for Knoll to urban planning and industrial design projects. In 1989, he established the Mangiarotti & Associates Office based in Tokyo, Japan. A highly regarded designer, Mangiarotti was presented with the Domus Formica award in 1956, the American Industrial Partners award for industrial construction works in 1972, the gold medal in architecture by the Accademia della Torre of Carrara in 1998, and a dedicated exhibition held at Calenzano's Design Museum in May 2010. Angelo Mangiarotti died in Milan in 2012.