Matteo Ragni graduated with a degree in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano. In 2001 he won, with Giulio Iacchetti, the Compasso d’Oro ADI award for the biodegradable ‘Moscardino’ spork, which is now part of the permanent design collection at MOMA, New York.
In 2008 he won the Wallpaper Design Award 2008, for the table lamp/bookends “Leti”, produced by Danese. Also in 2008, he founded TobeUs, a brand of wooden toy cars produced by hand in Italy; a brand that wants to serve as a manifesto for a responsible consumption and that often offers of workshops and sponsors travelling exhibitions. For the Corraini Publishing House he published “Camparisoda: l’aperitivo veloce futurista, da Fortunato Depero a Matteo Ragni” to celebrate 100 years of futurism and, in 2012, the book “Wallpaper Celebration” by Jannelli&Volpi. Also in 2012, he won the “Premio dei Premi”, an Italian national award for innovation, for the W-eye eyewear project.
At the end of 2013, an exhibition celebrating his work was held at the Italian Cultural Institute of Toronto, entitled “Matteo Ragni: Almost 20 Years of Design”. In 2014 he received a second Compasso d’Oro, again with Giulio Iacchetti, for manhole covers designed for Montini. In 2015, he was invited as a representative of Italian design to the International Design Week in Tianjin with the solo exhibition “Matteo Ragni: Design for Better Days”, an exhibition that was photographically chronicled by Max Rommel. He then received, from the Politecnico di Milano, the 2015 Alumni Polimi Award (an award that he then redesigned).
The 2015 Good Design Award was awarded for the HUB system he designed for Fantoni, followed by the Archiproducts Design Award 2016 for the HUB BAR – an office island for a coffee or work break, designed as part of the HUB family.
He combines his work as a designer with teaching in various different international universities, as well as acting as art director and architect.
All’attività di designer affianca quella di docente in diverse università internazionali, di art director e architetto.
