Ernesto Gismondi was a founding member of the Artemide Group and has created iconic designs such as the Artemide. These collections display Ernesto Gismondi’s eye for simplicity and modernity. With a history in engineering and designing Rocket Missiles, Gismondi uses his innovative thinking and passion for functionality to create these stunning lighting solutions. Ernesto Gismondi (1931), born in San Remo, earned a degree in aeronautical engineering at the Polytechnic University in Milan and graduated as a missile engineer at the Professional School of Engineering in Rome. By focusing on lighting design, he made an unusual, but fruitful career move. Together with designer Sergio Mazza he founded the Milanese Studio Artemide in 1960, which later developed into the Artemide Group. Gismondi became an acclaimed innovative designer who guided the Artemide Group to worldwide success, turning the company into one of the main players in lighting design and producer of icons like the Tizio desk lamp (Richard Sapper) from 1972 and the Tolomeo desk lamp (De Lucchi & Fassina) from 1986. Artemide worked with great designers like Gae Aulenti, Mario Botta, Sir Norman Foster, Luigi Serafini and many others. The company won several awards, including the Compasso d’Oro for lifetime achievement in 1995 and the European Design Prize in 1997. You can find Artemide lamps in permanent collections of the New York MoMA, the Victoria & Albert museum in London and the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome.