Stefano Getzel

Stefano Getzel was born in 1958. After studying architecture, art and philosophy in the United States at Cornell University, Cooper Union and Columbia, he dedicates himself to the three fields of architecture, painting and design, uniting them in a multi-disciplinary practice and method. During and after his studies, he worked in New York at the architecture firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, collaborating, among other things, on projects with R. De Armas on the Haj airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Later, he joined Aldo Rossi in Milan, collaborating on the master plan of Canareggio, Venice, a school in Broni and an office tower in Melbourne, Australia. Painting uninterruptedly since 1980, his works have been exhibited in both Italy and the United States. Among his relevant works are: the "Stickball" collages, the mixed media thematic painting series "Moving Centers", "Flags", and "Saturazione".

His first industrial designs are dated 1984, chairs and modular sofas for American residential furniture manufacturers. Upon returning to Italy, he opens his own multi-disciplinary firm, the Getzel Design Studio, in 1988, whose projects range from architecture, industrial design, to applied arts and graphic projects. He thus starts collaborating with European furniture manufacturers. For Luxy he designs the Frac, Aire Jr., Arrow, Big Jim, Synchrony chairs and the Plah Ghinn sofa system. Another creation of his is the Aire chair, which won the Best of the Show Award at Neocon 2001, as best office task seating. His design for the Pixel chair wins the Comfort & Seating 1st Prize for Ergonomic Quality in 2009. He also collaborated with Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas on the Bea chair, engineering its ergonomy, which was awarded with the Comfort & Seating 1st Prize for Innovation in 2009. Getzel created the U.F.O. footrest which was awarded with the ADI INDEX Selection in Italy and the Best of the Neocon Gold Award in 2008.