Antonio Citterio & Toan Nguyen

Italian architect Antonio Citterio and French industrial designer Toan Nguyen formed a prolific creative partnership that defined contemporary workplace and domestic lighting. Beginning when Nguyen joined Citterio’s Milan studio in 1998—later serving as head of design until 2009—the duo collaborated on high-tech industrial projects. Their defining collaborative masterpiece is the award-winning Kelvin LED lighting series (2009) for Italian lighting house Flos. Engineered with a double-pantograph counterbalanced arm, swiveling square aluminum head, and optical touch sensor, the design established a global benchmark for minimalist architectural task lighting. Together, they also engineered ergonomic contract furniture systems for Vitra and luxury upholstery for B&B Italia.