Claudio Salocchi

Claudio Salocchi (1934–2012) was an Italian designer active mainly from the 1960s to the early 1990s. Born in Milan and trained as an architect at the Politecnico di Milano, he worked extensively with the brand Sormani, supporting it from the early years after its founding in developing a distinctly “Space Age” aesthetic through highly experimental furniture projects—innovative both in materials and in functionality. He pursued a similar stylistic research in lighting, through the many lamps he designed for Lumenform, and in the kitchen sector through his collaboration with Alberta Cucine. It was one of his creations for Alberta—the Metrosistema modular wall system, adaptable to different areas of the home—that earned him his first and only Compasso d’Oro in 1979. Among the other companies he collaborated with were Skipper and Rossi di Albizzate, which—like the others mentioned—are no longer active today. Thanks to the work of his heirs, the memory of his oeuvre remains alive and relevant, and it enjoyed a major revival in 2023, when the brand Acerbis successfully reissued some of his finest designs, including the iconic Free Systems sofa.