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| Matteo Thun | |
|---|---|
| Name | Matteo Thun |
| Birth date | 1952 |
| Birth place | Bolzano |
| Occupation | Designer; Architect; Industrial Designer |
| Notable works | Aqua Tower, RIVA 56; Hotel Griefswald; Boffi collaborations |
Matteo Thun is an Italian designer and architect known for contributions to industrial design, product design, architecture, and branding. His career spans work with firms such as Alessi, Boffi, Swatch, and Wienerberger, and collaborations with figures including Ettore Sottsass, Enzo Mari, Richard Meier, and Renzo Piano. Thun's practice bridges Milan, Bolzano, Vienna, and international clients across Europe, North America, and Asia.
Born in Bolzano in 1952, Thun studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and at the Ulm School of Design, where he encountered faculty and alumni linked to Max Bill, Otl Aicher, Gerrit Rietveld, and Dieter Rams. During his formative years he engaged with the circles of Memphis Group, Studio Alchimia, and contemporaries from Politecnico di Milano and the Royal College of Art. Early apprenticeships and exchanges connected him to practitioners at Olivetti, Kartell, and Fiat design groups.
Thun began his professional trajectory in the 1970s, joining studio networks related to Ettore Sottsass and co-founding associations tied to Studio Alchimia and Memphis Group activities. He launched his own practice, collaborating with manufacturers like Alessi, Boffi, Fritz Hansen, Rosenthal, Villeroy & Boch, Flos, Laufen, Riva 1920, Scholten & Baijings, and De Padova. His office has executed projects in partnership with architectural firms including Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Richard Meier & Partners, SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), Foster + Partners, and Herzog & de Meuron. Thun expanded into hospitality and brand design with clients such as Starwood Hotels, Hilton Worldwide, AccorHotels, Mandarin Oriental, Aman Resorts, and IHG. He has also led urban and product initiatives for corporations like Siemens, Bosch, IKEA, Samsung, and Swatch Group.
Thun's methodology synthesizes influences from Bauhaus, Italian Rationalism, and Austrian modernism, reflecting dialogues with figures such as Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto, and Gio Ponti. His aesthetic emphasizes materiality, craftsmanship, and human-centered proportions, showing affinities with Ettore Sottsass's color experiments, Enzo Mari's functionalism, and Tadao Ando's spatial serenity. He advocates sustainable practices resonant with initiatives by Cradle to Cradle, LEED, BREEAM, and proponents like William McDonough. Thun integrates regional vernaculars from South Tyrol and Trentino while engaging contemporary technologies promoted by CERN-adjacent research and industrial partners such as Autodesk and SolidWorks.
Thun's portfolio includes residential, hospitality, product, and exhibition design. Notable projects and collaborations feature interiors and product lines for Alessi and Boffi, showroom designs for Flos and Kartell, and hotel projects for Mandarin Oriental and Aman Resorts. He has completed large-scale commissions with urban components connected to developers like Hines, Brookfield, and Allianz Real Estate. His work appears alongside architectural landmarks from Renzo Piano, Richard Meier, and SOM, and in product retrospectives at institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Vitra Design Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Triennale di Milano, and the Tate Modern. He has executed furniture and object designs for manufacturers including Riva 1920, Rosenthal, Villeroy & Boch, Laufen, and collaborated on limited editions with ateliers historically linked to Venini and Venetian glassmaking.
Thun has received honors and prizes across Europe and internationally, aligning him with award programs such as the Compasso d'Oro, the iF Design Award, the Red Dot Design Award, the Good Design Award, and recognition from institutions like the Triennale di Milano and the German Design Council. His projects have been cited in publications by Domus, Architectural Digest, Wallpaper*, Dezeen, Designboom, and academic critiques in journals associated with Politecnico di Milano and ETH Zurich.
Thun's influence pervades contemporary design dialogues connecting the Memphis Group legacy, Bauhaus pedagogy, and modern Italian design firms such as Alessi and Kartell. His mentoring and collaborations have intersected with emerging designers educated at Politecnico di Milano, the Royal College of Art, Domus Academy, and the Design Academy Eindhoven. Thun's cross-disciplinary approach informs practices at studios linked to Patricia Urquiola, Antonio Citterio, Piero Lissoni, Carlo Mollino's historiography, and contemporary movements curated by institutions like Fondazione Prada and the MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts.
Category:Italian designers Category:Italian architects Category:1952 births