Centrotavola Dino bianco di Aldo Cibic per Paola C.

Self-taught architect-designer Aldo Cibic was born in 1955 in Schio, Italy. In 1977, Cibic moved to Milan to work with Ettore Sottsass, and became his partner at Sottsass Associati in 1980. That same year, under the guidance of Sottsass, Cibic was among the designers who cofounded the Memphis Group, the iconic, postmodern collective active until 1987. Its highly experimental approach had a major impact on Cibic throughout his career. In 1989, he established his own office, Cibic & Partners, in Milan. The studio produces industrial design pieces, multimedia communications, exhibition design, and architectural and interior design projects for a roster of Italian and international clients.

In addition to his own design work, Cibic also teaches industrial design at the Domus Academy, the Milan Polytechnic, and the University of Architecture in Venice. He is an honorary professor at Shanghai’s Tongji University. He also takes on a variety of collaborative research projects, and, as of 2000, has served as the art director and designer at Paola C. in Milan.

Cibic’s work has been exhibited internationally for years. Recently, in 2006, architectural historian and professor Kurt W. Forster invited Cibic to participate in the Venice Architecture Biennale, where he presented the project Microrealities within an exhibition called Metamorph. In 2010, he was invited once again to Venice: this time, Cibic’s project Rethinking Happiness was included in the exhibition People Meet in Architecture, directed by Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima.

During the late 1980s, Cibic founded the investigative design project, Cibic Workshop, out of his Milan studio space, aiming to develop new design methods by working collaboratively with businesses, schools, and other research centers on interdisciplinary projects ranging from environment development to product design. Since its inception, Cibic Workshop has grown to include a second Italian location in Vicenza.

Fondato nel 2000, Paola C. è il frutto del rapporto creativo tra la fondatrice Paola Coin e il direttore artistico Aldo Cibic. Inizialmente, il duo produce accessori per la casa e oggetti attraverso cui le persone possano condividere momenti, ricordi ed incontri, dedicando la sua prima collezione ad una linea di ceramiche rifinite a mano ed una serie di oggetti in vetro soffiato a mano. Da allora la ricerca si è poi ampliata indirizzandosi all'esplorazione di altri materiali tra cui legno, metallo e placcatura in argento. I progetti a seguire consistono in collaborazioni e mostre con scuole di design, da cui risultano molti incontri importanti, tra cui quello con Bijoy Jain che porterà alla mostra Woodwork nel 2012. Nel 2014, Paola C. decide di aggiungere alla collezione una serie di racconti che riguardano la creazione degli oggetti che producono e progettano; la prima storia, disegnata da Jaime Hayon nel 2014, è stata poi seguita da Tavola Gioia di Aldo Cibic, Dolce Vita di Cristina Celestino, Paesaggio Lunare di Elisa Ossino e Coquille di Chiara Andreatti. L'impegno di Paola C. nel dare una possibilità ai volti più giovani del design continua a risultare in mostre in tutto il mondo.