In 1993, he graduated in architecture from Milan Polytechnic, but since 1991, he had already made contact with Giulio Cappellini, for whom he designed his first piece in 1992: the Kyoto bed, presented at the Salone del Mobile in Milan the same year. From this time on, Colombo’s work as a designer flowed into hundreds of projects in collaboration with the leading firms in the sector: Antonio Lupi, Arflex, Artemide, BYografia, Cappellini, DePadova, Emmemobili, EMU, F.lli Guzzini, Flou, Franke, Fusital, iGuzzini, IOC, Paola Lenti, Levi’s, Mood-Flexform, Moroso, Nube, Oluce, Penta, Poliform, Poltrona Frau, Riva 1920, Rugiano, Sabattini, Serralunga, Tecno, Teuco, Varenna, Zanotta.
In 2004, Colombo was named Designer of the Year in Tokyo. Between 2005 and 2011, he received the International Design Award four times from Elle Décor, and he won prizes for his projects from Gioia Casa and MD Magazine. In 2009, he was one of the winners of the Good Design Award presented by the European Center for Architecture, Art Design, and Urban Studies and the Chicago Athenaeum. A sort of ambassador of Italian design to the world,
He gives lectures and conferences in Israel, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, Ukraine, Australia, Russia, Britain, Brazil, and China.
Apart from product and furniture design, Colombo undertakes business and marketing promotion for companies, works on graphic design, curates exhibitions, and works as a consultant and art director (since 2006 for Arflex and since 2008 for Stratex). Entrepreneurs were among the first clients for the houses he designed, but they soon commissioned showrooms, sales outlets, and production facilities, like the Poliform Lab, which opened in 2011 in the heart of Brianza.
Colombo’s work as a designer, initially focused on product and interior design, has been progressively extended to the construction sector in Italy and abroad. In 2009, he won an international competition for the design of two multi-functional towers in Abu Dhabi, and his renewed interest in architecture has found scope in teaching in China, where he has been lecturing on design since 2011 at the De Tao Masters Academy in Beijing.
