Armchair by Tito Agnoli for Matteo Grassi, Italy, 1980s

Lighting and furniture designer architect Tito Agnoli was born in Lima, Peru in 1931. With family ties in Italy, he moved there to study in the years after the Second World War. First studying paint under the guidance of modernist artist Mario Sironi, Agnoli enrolled in Polytechnic University of Milan in 1949, to study architecture. Specializing in industrial design, Agnoli interned for famous designers Gio Ponti and Carlo De Carli after graduating.

Throughout the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, Agnoli designed prolifically in the fields of furniture and lighting. He created seating designs for luxury Italian brands such as Arflex, Bonacina, Matteo Grassii, Poltrona Frau, Ycami, and lighting designs for Oluce. His most notable designs include the Model 9000 Sofa from Arflex (1969); the sculptural wicker P3 Lounge Chair and P3S Lounge Chair, stainless steel Sorbet Chair, and Punto e Virgola Chair for Pierantonio Bonacina (all 1960s); and the Korium Chair for Matteo Grassi (1970s). In 1974, Agnoli began to collaborate with Poltrona Frau, designing many leather sofas and lounge chairs that were very commercially successful.

Angoli taught a course in Professional Design at the Cesare Correnti Institute in Milan. Over the course of his career he was nominated twice for the prestigious Compasso d’Oro award and won a gold medal at the Neocon exhibition in Chicago in 1986.

Tito Agnoli passed away in Milan in February 2012.

In 1880 in the Brianza region of Italy, the Grassi family began crafting saddles, bridles, reins, and other leather equipment for horses. Following World War II, the Grassis joined the rapid industrialization under way in northern Italy and expanded their production to include a wide range of leather goods, especially items for both the home and public interiors. By the late 1970s, Matteo Grassi had built an international reputation for distinctive, finely made leather furniture, from chairs and sofas, to tables and beds. One of the most successful among the brand’s early original designs was Tito Agnoli’s Korium Armchair (1979).

Over the years, Matteo Grassi has worked with an impressive roster of designers, such as Carlo Bartoli, Piero Lissoni, Alessandro Mendini, Franco Poli, Eoos, Luigi Massoni, Jean Nouvel, Matteo Nunziati, Mauro Lipparini, and Rodolfo Dordoni. The brand—associated with high quality materials and generously sleek forms—is well represented in airports and executive offices around the world.

After more than a century of production, Matteo Grassi has recently gone out of business.