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Designing with Joy

August 27, 2026

Designing with Joy

Cini Boeri, born Maria Cristina Mariani Dameno in 1924, was a woman with a natural elegance, a gentile smile and a deceptively innocent expression.  

Evacuated during the war, she joined the Resistance, where she met her future husband Renato Boeri, who was studying medicine at the time. They married in 1945, with illustrious witnesses including Ferruccio Parri, the first Prime Minister of the government of national unity at the end of the war, and Raffaele Cadorna. The couple would later separate in 1965. 

She graduated from the Politecnico di Milano in 1951, when her first son Sandro was just a few months old. Her other sons Stefano and Tito were born, respectively, in 1956 and 1958. Immediately after graduating she began working at the firm of Gio Ponti, who tried to dissuade her from pursuing a career in a field that he considered to be for men. The misogyny that plagued the field of architecture has only recently been conquered, thanks in part to architects like Cini Boeri. After her initial experience, she moved on to the firm of Marco Zanuso, who granted her more freedom and with whom she collaborated until 1963, when she opened her own firm in her home in Piazza Sant’Ambrogio. Piazza Sant’Ambrogio in Milan was “her” piazza: she spent her childhood there with her family, and moved back as an adult. Cini Boeri was part of that enlightened middle class that raised the city to the ranks of “capital” of Northern Italy, with a blend of culture and entrepreneurship that touched on all fields of knowledge. 

Her sons were small children when she collaborated with Marco Zanuso on the nursery school in Gubbio in 1960. This was, perhaps, the origin of her particular focus on measure. She demonstrated a marked sensibility towards the natural environment, as was the case for the 1969 “Casa nel Bosco” in the vicinity of Lake Maggiore, which was built without cutting down any of the trees present on the land, instead embracing them as part of the design. Another example was “Casa Bunker”, 1967, built for her family on the island of La Maddalena, designed to offer protection against the extreme winds that blow across the island and representing another way to interpret and take into account the natural environment. Her “Progetto Domestico” was equally significant. Presented at the 17th Triennale in Milan in 1986, she analysed the dynamics of a couple to design an apartment in which each person has their own private space.  

Serpentone, Arflex, Domus 505, dicembre 1971 

Emblematic examples of her designs for objects - a field that was relatively more accessible to women - include the innovative “Partner” wheeled suitcase from 1967, and “Serpentone” (1971), a sofa that could be purchased literally by the metre and then rolled up or unrolled as desired. The sofa represented Boeri’s ability to combine technological innovation - a block of polyurethane foam, without structure and without a cover - with a novel interpretation of the home and of socialisation. Another example was the “Ghost” armchair from 1987, made entirely of curved glass. 

Her experience with the resistance forged her liberal and democratic values and influenced how she worked; she shared the idea that every design should contribute to social improvement and should always focus on people’s needs. She believed that objects should be accessible to the general public, and paid significant attention to how people use both them and the surrounding space. She enjoyed an international career and played a leading role in design, including in the academic field, for which she received recognition over the course of her lifetime.  

Design should be joyful, she said, and she was often pictured with a smile on her face.  

Curated by Domus - © Editoriale Domus S.p.A.

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