Cesare Colombo, more known as Joe Colombo, was born in Milan in 1930. He studied painting and architecture in Milan before starting his career as an abstract, expressionist painter and sculptor. Here he joined the Movimento Nucleare, a group aiming to make art in response to the nuclear age.

When his father died in 1959 he chose to take over the family business, a company that made electrical appliances. He stopped painting and began working as a designer, experimenting with new production techniques. In 1962 together with his brother Gianni he developed the Acrilica lamp, but despite the success this ended up being only project they collaborated on. That same year Joe Colombo started his own design and architecture company where he created everything from the glassware Smoke to chairs, lamps, tables and kitchen units more often than not in his material of choice, plastic. 

More than anything, Joe Colombo was interested in furniture systems, especially modular ones, his main goal to being variability. A great example of this is the Tube Chair. Made up by four hollow cylinders, all with a different diameter and made to fit perfectly one inside the other. Each unit made to be fit together in a number of different ways. Each tube attached to another with metal clasps. Designed in 1969 the Tube Chair is mostly made from synthetic materials, that were not at the time widely used in domestic design but became increasingly popular during the 1960s and the 1970s.  

Just two years after designing the Tube Chair, on his 41st birthday, Joe Colombo sadly had a heart attack ending an extremely influential design career.

Product information

The size 40x50 cm (approx 16x20”) are signed and printed on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Bright White 310g archival paper and are sold in a limited edition of 50 prints.

The size 30x40 cm (approx 12x16”) are printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art Studio Enhanced 210g archival paper.