Cesare (known as Joe) Colombo was born in Milan in 1930. Essentially self-taught, he attended the Academy in Brera and then the faculty of Architecture at the Politecnico in Milan for a few years. Before becoming a designer he worked as a painter, builder, car salesman (his passion for cars remained with him) and entrepreneur in the electrics field. The technological utopia of Joe Colombo’s designs encompasses many of the hopes of the Sixties in Italy and Europe.