Since 1970 Paolo Piva has been principally concerned with industrial design, exhibition design, graphics and architecture. Born in Adria in 1950, he studied architecture at Venice University in 1968 and has been involved in both large and small projects in Italy and abroad. He has earned international recognition for his work with Italian furniture manufacturers including Fama, B&B Italia, Giovannetti, Dada and Poliform. In 1980 he was commissioned by the Kuwait government to plan the new embassy in Qatar, and in 1985 he planned the restructuring of the headquarters for Charles Jourdan in Paris. In 1988 he became Professor of Design at the Hochschule fur Angewandte Kunst in Vienna.