Carlo di Carli was born in 1910 in Milan and became an important architect and designer in the 1940s and 1950s working with Gio Ponti. He became a keen exponent of Italian furniture bringing it to the international market.He worked actively with students at the Politecnico di Milan and Torino and the universitario di architettura di Venezia.In 1957 he founded the review `Il Mobile Italiano` with the intention of reviewing how furniture was made and documenting the furniture makers in the various regions of Italy and illustrating their production. This was important work since there was little documentation available of the work of these designers and makers.