Marco Piva

An Italian artist, architect and designer, he integrates formal research, materials and light in creations that blend art, design and architecture in an evolutionary process from the Radical Design of the 1970s to contemporary visions. His unique language – influenced by Arte Programmata, Gruppo N and Henry Van de Velde – combines artistic imagination, industrial production and scientific aesthetics, with deep Milanese roots: after graduating from the Polytechnic, he transformed his city into a springboard for a global career.

In 1977, he founded Studiodada, a provocative emblem of Radical Design; in 1982, at the 16th Milan Triennale, he presented “Mobili in Colore” (Coloured Furniture), a counter-design manifesto featuring intense colours and modular shapes. In the 1980s and 1990s, he led IDA and the ADI Council. Since 1990, Studio Marco Piva, which he founded, has brought together 50 collaborators of different nationalities, with cross-disciplinary projects ranging from masterplans to architecture, interior design and product design, all over the world.

He conceives art as a dynamic flow of volumes, surfaces, matter and light for synaesthetic experiences that transform the observer into a participant, balancing mathematical rigour and creative emotion. From laminated glass to liquid bronze, he scratches, cuts and overlaps natural and high-tech materials, animated by LEDs for dynamic illusions and interactive textures.

At YouNique 2026, Marco Piva, in partnership with Helios Automazioni – a leading manufacturer of innovative machinery for processing materials – will present The Lightness of Stone: a sensory journey where marble, the eternal emblem of primordial strength and immutable mass, hovers in the lightness of light.

The Lightness of Stone aims to provoke reflection on the relationship between matter, light, man and perception, reflecting modern society – between urban fragility and innovative drive – and celebrating the role of technology in investigating the potential of matter, particularly marble, blurring the boundaries between art and design and emphasising the cross-pollination between disciplines.

The works are created by the Tortuga Lab brand, an expression of a widespread factory that combines manufacturing tradition and advanced digital technologies.

SPONSOR: CALEIDO, FINSTRAL, SLAMP