Achille Castiglioni, an Italian designer known for turning everyday industrial items into modern masterpieces, was born in 1913 in Milan. He studied architecture and then began designing with his older brothers, Livio and Pier Giacomo. In 1945, Achille and Pier began designing on their own. The tight-knit nature of the brothers' collaboration extended to their relationships with manufacturers. The duo's best-known work includes the Arco lamp (based on a streetlight) and the Toio lamp (inspired by a car headlight) for Flos and the Sella seat (which features a bicycle seat supported by a pole) and the Mezzadro stool (which incorporates a tractor seat) for Zanotta. After Pier suffered an early death in 1968, Achille continued to design solo until his own passing in 2002.