The Italian designer Vico Magistretti (1920-2006) had a long career as an architect and furniture designer. Magistretti started studying architecture in Milano in 1939, but had to escape to Switzerland in 1943. In Switzerland he met Ernesto Nathan Rogers, who became Magistretti’s maestro. Returning to Milan in 1945 he finished his studies and started working for the architect Paolo Chessa. In the beginning of his career Magistretti worked as an urban planner and started designing furniture and lamps in the 1950s. Many of the objects he designed became museum pieces. During his long and fruitful career he also won several awards like two Compasso D’Oro awards.