Claudio Vagnoni Biography
Claudio Vagnoni was born in Rome, where he lives and works as a product, interiors designer, video director and visiting professor in prestigious Italian and international institutes. Since the end of the 60s he has been among the designers gravitating in the Tuscan-Lazio corporate galaxy of the CIFA group (Permaflex, Italbed, Ondaflex, 1P and, since 1972, Aviointeriors) where, in particular for 1P - Industria Chimica per l'Arredamento, Vagnoni designs numerous models for upholstered furniture, offering well-balanced volumes from a plastic point of view, "modern" in language and easily modular - the Palòa, Pagrù, Duna systems -, however combinable - the Gena group - or aimed at the more decidedly contract market – F2. Since 1976 he has designed seating systems for numerous airlines and, in 2009 for Aviointeriors group (Latina - Rome) he designed the tourist and business class seats, presented at the international Aircraft Interior Expo2010 exhibitions in Dubai and Hamburg. From 1975 to 1985 he worked as a Design teacher at the ISIA - Higher Institute for Artistic Industries in Rome and was among those responsible (coordinated by Aldo Calò) for the research activity in the field of design teaching provided for in the study plan called Didactic Diagram which won the Paris). In the same year he was among the teachers of the first ADI/ISIA International Course of Specialization in Design for foreign graduates (Massa Lubrense, Naples). In 1983 a group of his students won the first prize ex aequo at the CEE Olive Oil Cruet Competition (ADI - Milan). In the same year he was among the invited to the ICSID congress exhibition From the spoon to the city in the itinerary of 100 designers (Milan Triennale). From 1982 to 1990 he worked as a design expert for the MAE (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) cooperating in the establishment and organization of design schools: the Art and Design Center in Valletta (Malta) – where he was responsible for design to training; the Design Center of Montevideo (Uruguay). From 1996 to 2001 he was the owner and designer of the Zona Franca company, manufacturer of outdoor furniture in Marsciano - Perugia. In 2000 he was president of the MIUR ministerial commission for the transition to the role of design teachers of all the Italian Academies of Fine Arts. From 2001 to 2006 he was Director of the Academy of Fine Arts of Frosinone. From 2006 to 2012 he was a professor of design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. Since 2008 he has been president of the UPA - Popular University of the Arts. In 2010 he won the Raffaello Award: Excellence of Made in Italy for Education. Since 2004 he has worked as a visiting professor, developing workshops for the Department of Art & Design of Yeditepe University in Istanbul and since 2012 for the Tbilisi Academy of Art in Georgia; in 2016 for GIPA - Georgian Institute of Public Affairs. In 2010 he created and directed two videos for the Venere D'argento event for the Sicily Region. His works have been published in Italian and foreign sector magazines. Among Claudio Vagnoni's recent publications, we highlight in particular: Help design (Gangemi Editore, Rome 2012 - ADI Design Index 2013 selection); Self-portraits (Gangemi Editore, Rome 2013); Fireworks (Gangemi Editore, Rome 2013); Help to think (Tbilisi State Academy, Tbilisi 2013; Stochastic design (SABA reader 2016 / Lantana Editore, Rome 2017).
