Alberto Meda was born in Lenno, Tremezzina, Italy, in 1945. He studied at Milan Polytechnic until 1969 but, unlike most Italian designers, Alberto Meda studied mechanical engineering there instead of architecture. Between 1973 and 1979, Alberto Meda was technical director at Kartell, where he was responsible for plastics technologies and furniture production. From 1979 Alberto Meda was self-employed as a designer in Milan. Alberto Meda was a technical design consultant for Brevetti Gaggia, the coffee-machine maker, and for Alfa Romeo (1981-1985). His rigorous training as a mechanical engineer has certainly stood Albert Meda in good stead; it has also induced him to give priority to construction at the outset of a project rather than the formal aspects of design. Alberto Meda is always concerned with working out new materials solutions. The boundless possibilities afforded by modern technology are viewed by Alberto Meda as a "supermarket of creative possibilities", which he knows how to exploit in his designs with virtuosic versatility. In 1986 Alberto Meda and Paolo Rizzatto co-designed "Berenice", an elegant and delicate work lamp for Luceplan. "Berenice" provides cutting-edge halogen technology while the construction of the lamp arm is based on the legendary spring technology for equalizing countervailing forces developed by George Carwardine for his legendary "Anglepoise" lamp in 1933. In 1987 Alberto Meda designed "Light light", a chair featuring an inner Nomex honeycomb core surrounded by carbon fiber fabric impregnated by epoxy resin, a construction principle that reduces the chair weight to barely a kilogram. In 1989 Alberto Meda designed "Titania", a pendent lamp with light, ellipsoid housing of aluminium ribs. The "Titania" is suspended on nylon cords, which makes it look as if it is hovering in the air. Both an uplighter and a downlighter, "Titania" radiates soft, white light although color filters make it possible to change the color of the light radiated laterally and tint the aluminium housing. Another highly sophisticated Alberto Meda construction is the award-winning "Meda chair" (1997), which does not in the least resemble a simple office chair. Alberto Meda's designs for furniture, lighting, and utilitarian objects are made by, among others, Alias, Alessi, Arabia-Finland, JcDecaux, Mandarina Duck, Ideal Standard, Luceplan, Kartell, Philips, and Vitra. From 1983 until 1987, Alberto Meda taught industrial technol.ogy at the Domus Academy in Milan. Between 1995 and 1997 he taught industrial design at Milan Polytechnic. From 1995 until 1997, Alberto Meda was a member fo the board of directors of DesignLabor in Bremerhaven.