Ugo La Pietra is an Italian architect, deisgner and essayist, born in 1938 in Bussi sul Tirino, Pescara, Italy. He graduated in 1964 at the Politecnico di Milano with an architecture degree.

During the 1960s he was involved in a series of experimental activities, making significant contributions to radical design, developing original theories such as the “De-balancing System”.

In 1962 Ugo La Pietra founded the renowned Gruppo del Cenobio together with Agostino Ferrari, Ettore Sordini, Angelo Verga, Arturo Vermi and the poet Alberto Lùcia with the goal of communicating experimental art, expression of a free and cultured mindset.

In 1973, he founded Global Tools, the first group of “Architects, Designers and Radical Artists” alongside ​Ettore Sottsass and ​Andrea Branzi.

He was editor-in-chief and director for several magazines, including In, Inpiù, Progettare in più, Brera Flash, Fascicolo Area, Abitare il tempo. He was also an editor of the Domus magazine in the 1980s, and of D'Artigianato tra Arte e Design.

Ugo La Pietra’s unique vision and talent have earned him numerous awards, such as the first prize at the Nancy Film Festival in 1975, the Compasso d’Oro award in 1979 and in 2016 and the second place at the Competition for the ex-Manifattura Tabacchi Urban Park in Bologna in 1985.

Last but not least, Ugo La Pietra has curated numerous exhibitions in world famous museums, including: the Milan Triennale, the Venice Biennale, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Lyon, the FRAC Museum of Orlèans, the Museum of Ceramics of Faenza and the Ragghianti Foundation of Lucca. La Pietra also exhibited his pieces at MoMA in New York and the Milan Trade Fair among others.