Giancarlo Piretti's most famous chairs have entered the history of 20th-century design as icons of Made in Italy. From the folding Plia chair, exhibited in the permanent collection of the MoMA in New York and designed in 1967 for Anonima Castelli, to the 1971 Alky upholstered chair created for the same brand (for which the designer began working after attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, designing interiors and furniture), Piretti's furnishings combine aesthetics, comfort, and modularity. Among the numerous international awards he has received, the designer has won two Compasso d'Oro Awards: the first in 1981 for the Vertebra seating system; and the second in 1988 for the Piretti Collection office chair series, a system of over 50 seating models based on a patented mechanism that adjusts the tension of the backrest based on the weight of the sitter.