Ennio Chiggio Seating
Multidisciplinary artist, sculptor and designer Ennio Chiggio was not only known for his Space Age lamps and voluptuous, modular Environ sofas, but he was also renowned as a technological innovator, electronic music producer and researcher, who explored the relationship between mathematics and art.
Born in 1938 in Naples, Chiggio studied technology and art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. While still in school, in 1957, Chiggio began painting kinetic art using tempera on cardboard and ink on paper. By 1960, he had joined the artists’ collective Gruppo N, founded by Alberto Biasi, Edoardo Landi, Manfredo Massironi and Toni Costa.
With Gruppo N, Chiggio participated in several exhibitions such as “Programmed Art,” presented by Italian intellectual Umberto Eco, which showed in Milan, Venice and Rome in 1962 and in London and New York in 1964. By the following year, Chiggio’s interests had turned to sound and music production, and he founded the Group of Experimental Phonology NPS (New Proposals Sound) with pianist and composer Teresa Rampazzi.
From 1964 to ’77, Chiggio operated a design studio that focused on furniture and lighting as well as glass and electromechanical objects. His most well-known lighting includes the Ciot floor lamp for Italian manufacturer Lumenform, sculptural table lamps and wall sconces for Emmezeta.
After closing his design studio in 1978, Chiggio dedicated his time to teaching, serving as a professor of design and industrial aesthetics at his alma mater. In 1996, he opened the Embtool multimedia research laboratory in Padua, where he made short films about art and architecture and conducted computational music research, exploring the relationship between mathematical models and artistic expression.
Throughout the 2000s until his death in 2020, Chiggio participated in several exhibitions at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, the MACBA Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Buenos Aires and Museum Ritter in Waldenbuch, Germany. Public collections throughout Italy and Germany also feature his works.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of innovative Ennio Chiggio furniture.
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Fabric, Foam, Chenille
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Fabric
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Cotton
1970s Italian Space Age Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Alpaca, Plastic, Foam
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Wool
1970s Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Velvet, Plastic
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Metal
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Ennio Chiggio Seating
Fabric, Wood
1980s Italian Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Metal
1960s German Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Metal
Mid-18th Century Italian Baroque Antique Ennio Chiggio Seating
Walnut, Silk
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Metal
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Fabric, Wood
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Metal
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Metal
1970s Italian Post-Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Leather
1970s Italian Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Leather
1970s Unknown Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Metal
1970s Italian Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Wool
1970s European Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Fabric
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Fabric
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Faux Leather
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ennio Chiggio Seating
Upholstery, Foam
