De Pas, D’Urbino & Lomazzi

Jonathan De Pas (1932-1991), Donato D'Urbino (1935-) and Paolo Lomazzi (1936-) were a trio of Milanese designers, great protagonists of the radical innovations that crossed Italian design between the end of the 1960s and the two decades later. Their DDL - De Pas De'Urbino Lomazzi studio was founded in 1966, after the first two had gained experience collaborating with the firm of the well-known Marcello Nizzoli. The pop and ironic style of their creations allows them to achieve immediate success with the creation of true icons of the style of the time such as the Blow inflatable armchair for Zanotta and the Joe sofa for Poltronova, with the characteristic shape of an oversized baseball glove. They were called later to design the fittings for the Italian Pavilion at the Osaka Exhibition in 1970. Years of success followed in which the more experimental creations resulting from the prolific collaboration with Zanotta were accompanied by products (now out of collection) for major brands such as Cassina and B&B Italy and lamps for Artemide and Stilnovo. D'Urbino and Lomazzi continued to work together for many years even after the untimely death of their colleague. The studio can boast the victory of two Compassi d'Oro in (1979 and 2018, the second in recognition of a career).