By the age of 22, he was working in the studio of Ettore Sottsass, In 1980, he became a partner of the studio Sottsass & Associati.
Mario Bellini, Alessandro Mendini, Michael Sorkin, Ettore Sottsass: Emilio Ambasz: The Poetics of the Pragmatic, Rizzoli, 1989
He also sits on the Board of Governors of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and has taken a strong lead in building the institution’s collection of 20th century design through donations of objects by influential designers including Ettore Sottsass, Russell Wright, Aldo Rossi, Christopher Dresser and Raymond Loewy.
He wrote essays and catalogues collaborating with artists and architects such as Giorgio Morandi, Alighiero Boetti, Mario Merz, Carol Rama, Pirro Cuniberti, Alberto Burri, Bruno Martinazzi, Piero Manai, Marco Gastini, Vittorio Gregotti, Achille Castiglioni, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Renzo Piano, Ettore Sottsass, among many others.
Since 22 January 2007 he has created Alighiero Boetti’s entry, composed another entry on the architect Ettore Sottsass in Wikiquote and “reviewed” five movies directed by Werner Herzog: Fata Morgana, Land of Silence and Darkness, The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner, La Soufrière and Lessons of Darkness.
Ettore Sottsass | Ettore Scola | Ettore Majorana | Ettore Campogalliani | Ettore Ximenes | Ettore Muti | Ettore Bugatti | Ettore Beggiato | Ettore Bastianini | Ettore Zappi | Ettore Tolomei | Ettore Mazzoleni | Ettore Gandini |
With industrial design by Ettore Sottsass, it was leased to about 40 individual customers, of which the first (Elea 9003/01) was installed at the textile company Marzotto and second (Elea 9003/02) to Monte dei Paschi di Siena.