Sergio Asti (born 1926 in Milan, Italy) graduated with a degree in architecture from Milan Polytechnic and opened his Milan studio in 1953, establishing himself as one of the top Italian industrial designers and becoming a founder member of the ADI (Italian Industrial Design Association). In addition to the design of several buildings and exhibitions, Asti has created several objects throughout his career that are now included in the permanent collections of museums worldwide - his Daruma series of lamps for FontanaArte in 1968 is represented in New York's Museum of Modern Art.