Joe Colombo, born in Milan in 1930, worked as a painter, craftsman, car seller and entrepreneur in the field of electrical devices. He studied at the Brera Academy of Fines Arts and then at the Architecture Department at the Polytechnic University in Milan. He had his first studio in Milan in 1963. Colombo worked together with Kartell, Alessi and Rosenthal. Several of his product designs are still in production today.