Joe Colombo was born in Milan, Italy on July 30th, 1930.   He started out wanting to learn art and sculputre,  studying at the Brera Academy of Fine Art.  He was part of the Avant Garde in the 1950's especially the "Nuclear Movement", designing all sorts of underground living spaces in response to the growing fears of the nuclear bomb.  Also in the 1950's he studied Architecture and In 1962 he opened his own studio in Milan designing architecture and furniture. In 1964 he designed the interior of a hotel in Sardinia. The landmark feature of the design was a double ceiling illuminated from within and broken up on the exterior by protruding prisms that reflected and refracted the light.
In the sixties, he produced may designs including the "Optic" alarm clock and "spider" lighting fixures as well as the "Universale" chair and his "Boby" trolley.
We are lucky to have several great examples of Joe Colombo designs on Modernism.com!