Mario Bellini facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mario Bellini
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Mario Bellini
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| Born | 1 February 1935 Milan, Italy
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| Alma mater | Milan Polytechnic – Faculty of Architecture |
| Occupation | Architect and designer |
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Notable work
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Museum of Islamic Art, Louvre Museum, Paris Deutsche Bank Headquarters refurbishment, Frankfurt Milan Convention Center (MICO), Milan |
| Awards | Compasso d’Oro Medaglia d’Oro |
Mario Bellini (born on February 1, 1935) is a famous Italian architect and designer. After finishing his studies at the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1959, he started a long career. He designed buildings, exhibitions, products, and furniture. He became well-known during a time called the "Italian economic boom" in the late 20th century, when Italy's economy grew very fast.
Mario Bellini has worked with many big companies. Some of these include B&B Italia, Brionvega, Cassina, Heller, Yamaha, Olivetti, Renault, and Vitra. Over his nearly 70-year career, he has received many special awards. These include eight Compasso d'Oro awards, which are like the Oscars for design in Italy. He also received the Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement from the Triennale di Milano. In 2019, a top Italian government official, Roberto Fico, gave him a special medal for all his amazing work in architecture and design.
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Designing Everyday Products
Mario Bellini is famous for designing many different kinds of products that people use every day. He made everything from calculators to chairs and even car interiors.
Working with Olivetti
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In 1963, Bellini started working as a consultant for Olivetti, a well-known Italian company. He helped design the Programma 101, which was an early type of desktop computer. His design for the CMC7-7004 machine, which marked magnetic characters, won a Compasso d'Oro award in 1964. His design for the TCV 250 Video Display Terminal is so important that it is shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Bellini continued to work with Olivetti through the 1970s and 1980s. He helped create many of the company's most famous products. These included electric typewriters like the Lexicon 82 and Praxis 35. The Praxis 35 won a Compasso d'Oro in 1981. He also designed the Mercator 20 cash register, which won a Compasso d'Oro in 1984, and the Divisumma 28 electronic calculator.
Furniture, Cars, and More
For many years, Bellini designed furniture for companies like B&B Italia and Cassina. He also created TV sets, music systems, headphones, and even electric organs for Yamaha. He was a design consultant for Renault cars for five years. He also helped design parts for Fiat and Lancia cars, including the inside of the 1980 Lancia Trevi. Bellini also designed lamps for companies like Artemide and Flos, and office furniture for Vitra.
He has designed products for companies all over the world. In Italy, he worked with Acerbis, Driade, Flou, Kartell, and Natuzzi. In Germany, he designed for Lamy and Rosenthal. In Japan, he worked with Fuji, and in the United States, with Heller Furniture.
In 1972, Bellini was asked to design a special mobile environment called the Kar-a-Sutra. This was for an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His Camaleonda modular sofa system, made by B&B Italia, was also shown at this exhibition.
Bellini's Designs in Museums
In 1987, the Museum of Modern Art held a special exhibition just about Mario Bellini's career. At that time, the museum already had 25 of his designs in its permanent collection. These included Olivetti machines, furniture from B&B Italia and Cassina, and office chairs from Vitra.
In 2025, Bellini's Olivetti TCV 250 video display terminal was part of an exhibition called Pirouette: Turning Points in Design at the Museum of Modern Art. This exhibition showed important design items that marked key moments in design history.
Gallery of Design Works
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Volans 17 television for Brionvega (1968)
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Logos 58 calculator designed for Olivetti (1972)
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Olivetti Divisumma 18 calculator (1973)
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Olivetti Lettera 35i
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Olivetti Lettera Praxis DLX
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Olivetti Lettera 36c
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412 Cab chair designed for Cassina (1977)
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Cab chair designed for Cassina (1977)
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Ergonomic Dashboard for Lancia Trevi (1980)
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DL 100 camera designed for Fuji
Designing Buildings
Since the 1980s, Mario Bellini has designed many buildings around the world. His architecture firm, Mario Bellini Architects (MBA), is in Milan, Italy. Bellini himself designed the building where his firm is located in the early 1990s. His firm has about 30 to 35 architects working there.
Major Buildings Bellini Designed
Mario Bellini has designed many important buildings that have been built. These include:
- The Milan Convention Centre (MICO), which is one of Europe's largest convention centers. It was completed between 2008 and 2012.
- The Museum of Islamic Arts at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, finished in 2012.
- The Museum of the City of Bologna in Italy, completed in 2012.
- A big renovation of the Deutsche Bank headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, finished in 2011.
- The extension and redesign of the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, completed in 2003.
- The Natuzzi Americas Headquarters in High Point, North Carolina, USA, finished in 1998.
- The new fair district for the Milan Trade Fair, completed in 1997.
- The Tokyo Design Center in Japan, finished in 1992.
- The Villa Erba Exhibition and Congress Centre in Cernobbio, Italy, completed in 1990.
Other Architectural Projects
Bellini has also worked on many other architectural projects. Some of these include:
- A large Scientific-Technological Park at Erzelli Hill in Genoa, Italy, which started in 2005.
- An extension and redesign of the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, one of Italy's major art galleries, which began in 2009.
- The New Cultural Centre of Turin, which started in 2001.
He has also created designs for many other notable buildings and complexes, such as the New Museum of the City of Berlin (2008) and the European Patent Office in The Hague, Holland (2004).
Designing Exhibitions
Mario Bellini has also designed the spaces for many art exhibitions. This means he planned how the artworks would be displayed and how visitors would move through the show. Some of the exhibitions he designed include:
- "The Treasure of St. Marco in Venice," shown in Paris and other major museums around the world from 1984 to 1987.
- "Italian Art in the 20th Century" at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1989.
- "The Renaissance from Brunelleschi to Michelangelo. The Representation of Architecture," shown in Venice, Paris, and Berlin from 1994 to 1995.
- "The Triumphs of Baroque. Architecture in Europe 1600–1750" in Turin in 1999.
Solo Exhibitions About Bellini
Several special exhibitions have been held to celebrate Mario Bellini's work:
- In 1987, the Museum of Modern Art in New York held an exhibition called Mario Bellini: Designer.
- In 1996, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in London had an exhibition showing his work as an architect.
- In 2000, the Municipal Gallery of Contemporary Art in Trento, Italy, held a personal exhibition titled Mario Bellini: A Path Between Architecture, Furniture, and Cars.
- In December 2003, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, reopened with a major exhibition focused on his designs.
See also
In Spanish: Mario Bellini para niños
