The Salone remembers Pierluigi Cerri

The architect and graphic designer Pierluigi Cerri died on 29th November. His projects ensured that he was a key figure on the Milanese and Italian cultural scene and abroad. Cerri – who taught at Milan Polytechnic University, edited the magazines Casabella and Rassegna, and who set up first Gregotti Associati and then Cerri & Associati – had the gift of being able to translate creativity masterfully and delicately into architecture, installations, communication campaigns and brand identities, ranging from the artwork for the Salone del Mobile di Milano to that of Prada, Italia ’90 and Artemide, not to mention many other companies and events – whilst also designing displays that have gone down in the history of Triennale Milano, and objects for the leading Italian furnishing brands, such as Riva1920, Unifor, Molteni&C., Arflex and FontanaArte, to name but a few.

On the subject of his powerful and impassioned professional work, Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, had this to say: “Pierluigi Cerri put his hand to just about everything in his vibrant career as an architect, designer and graphic artist. Always with elegance, rigour and professionalism. His narrative spaces were endlessly large and incredibly varied. He also did a great deal for the Salone del Mobile, bestowing it with a coordinated image suggestive of ideas and interpretations. Without overpowering, silently. He did so much and that’s why he will be badly missed, not just by us, but also by the world of design.”

Gianfranco Marinelli, President of Federlegno Arredo Eventi, also paid tribute: “I met Pierluigi Cerri in 1977, and had the great good luck to be able to appreciate his great professional and human qualities over the years. Pierluigi Cerri was a figure who will stand out in the history of graphic art, architecture and design for his innate ability to combine scientific rigour with sympathy, elegance and kindness, elements that always shone through in his work and which distinguished his lengthy career.”  

“Pierluigi Cerri was a great friend of the Salone del Mobile, it is to him that we owe our logo, Salone del Mobile.Milano, which he very generously produced for us through the years. But it wasn’t just the logo, much of the communication over the last few years was conceived and produced by Pierluigi Cerri. We have lost a friend and we have lost an outstanding figure on the Italian cultural scene,” said Marco Sabetta, General Manager of the Salone.

The founder and curator of SaloneSatellite, Marva Griffin Wilshire – a leading design expert whose sweeping eye encompasses both the field in Milan and internationally – remembered him affectionately: “Dear Pierluigi, I will always cherish a wonderful memory of our chats at Novedrate and your advice on beauty. About how beautiful everything was, and about being made beautiful with graphics and especially with communication.”

La fondatrice e curatrice del SaloneSatellite Marva Griffin Wilshire – grande esperta di design con uno sguardo che abbraccia simultaneamente la realtà milanese e quella internazionale - chiude infine con un ricordo affettuoso: “Caro Pierluigi, porterò sempre con me un bellissimo ricordo delle nostre chiacchierate a Novedrate e i tuoi consigli sulla bellezza. Su quanto tutto fosse bello, ed essere reso bello assieme alla grafica e soprattutto alla comunicazione.”