Mario Bellini

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Mario Bellini (born 1935) is an Italian industrial designer and architect.

[edit] Biography

Bellini studied at the Polytechnic in his native city of Milan (Politecnico di Milano), from where he graduate in 1959. He opened his first design studio after graduation, where he was contracted by some of the largest Italian businesses including Olivetti, Artemide, B&B Italia, Cassina, Erco, Rosenthal, Ideal Standard, Poltrona Frau and overseas companies like Yamaha. From 1959 to 1962 the was design director of the Rinascente Italian company. In 1962 founded with Marco Romano an architecture study and in 1973 opened in Milan the Bellini Studio. From 1962 is the design consultant of Olivetti where he designed the calculator Divisuma 18/28 (1973) and the typewriters Lettera 12 1977, Praxis 35 and Praxis 45 (both in 1981). Between 1969 and 1971 he was president of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale.

He is well known for his CAB furniture, the classic Olivetti typewriter and many other highly regarded industrial designs. He is also an accomplished architect, designing buildings throughout Europe, Japan, the United States and the UAE. He was also responsible for the design of the Lamy Persona pen.

The TCV-250 video display terminal, designed by Mario Bellini in 1966 for Olivetti, is in the Museum of Modern Art's design collection.