cini boeri, born maria cristina mariani dameno, a female key figure in italian architecture and design, has passed away aged 96. after graduating from politecnico di milano in 1951, boeri briefly worked in gio ponti’s studio before beginning a long collaboration with marco zanuso. following this, cini boeri started her own architecture and design firm in 1963.
serpentone sofa for arflex | image courtesy of arflex, also main image
after founding cini boeri architetti, she worked on a wide variety of architectural projects, and interiors. some of boeri’s most acclaimed architectural work includes ‘casa bunker’ and ‘casa rotonda’.
‘strips’ sofa for arflex | image courtesy of arflex
many of her furniture designs were modular or used a limited palette of materials, a few of them are still in production today. like the timeless snaking sofa ‘serpentone’, made of polyurethane foam and sold by the metre, or the ’strips’ system, where the inspiration for quilting came from observing the packaging of christo’s works (produced by arflex in 1971 and 1972 respectively), even today are still speaking the language of contemporaneity. more recently, boeri designed a bag for prada that can be expanded or reduced according to its need. in each project, boeri was interested in the functionality of space and the psychological relationships between humans and their environment.
cini boeri’s son, stefano boeri, is also an architect and is perhaps best known for his celebrated ‘vertical forest’ projects.
‘ghost’ chair for FIAM | image courtesy of FIAM
Sabato12 h.11 saluteremo Cini nel bellissimo Quadriportico della Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio a Milano, un luogo che lei amava profondamente.Saturday 12 at11 am we will greet Cini in the beautiful Quadriportico of the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan,a place that she deeply loved. pic.twitter.com/btq9qPRanL
— stefano boeri (@StefanoBoeri) September 10, 2020
