Titania pendant light designed for Luceplan (with Paolo Rizzato), 1989Lola lamp designed for Luceplan (with Paolo Rizzato), 1987
Meda came to design from engineering, bringing a pragmatic mind and an attention to details in materials and production process. His applied-science background shaped Meda’s designs that are modern in form, and organic in feel. This sophistication caught the eye of Rolf Fehlbaum, chairman of Swiss manufacturer Vitra, who commissioned the engineer to design a chair. This collaboration resulted in seating pieces such as the MedaPro and the MedaPal.[1]
Teaching and research
From 1983 to 1987 he was lecturer on industrial technology at Domus Academy. He conducted seminars at International Design Symposium in Fukui, at Workshop Design Quest in Osaka, and at Design Center in Tokyo. From 1995 he was a lecturer at Politecnico of Milan "Corso di Laurea di Disegno Industriale" with a design lab.
From 1995 to 1997 he was a member of Board of Designlabor Bremerhaven.
From 2003 to 2007 he lectured at IUAV in Venice with design workshops.
In 2016, he became a member of the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano.
He gave lectures and seminars at Chicago, Washington University, in Stockholm, Miami, San Paulo, Taipei, Ulm, Istanbul, Toronto, Mexico, Hong Kong, Firenze, Oslo, Istanbul, Lausanne, and Seoul.
Recognition
Museums
Meda's designs are held in the permanent collection of museums such as the Museum of Modern Art of Toyama, the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Examples of these works include the "Light light " chair (1987), the "Soft light" chair (1989), the "Longframe" by Alias (1991), and the "On-Off" lamp by Luceplan (1988).
In 2023 the Triennale di Milano staged a retrospective in of his work titled Alberto Meda: Tension and Lightness.[2][3][4]