Federico Grazzini moved to London in 1998 after graduating in Architecture at the University of Florence, starting out as a 3D artist and visualisation expert. He joined Alsop Architects in 1999, getting involved with a wide range of projects, from architecture, product and furniture design to masterplanning, and also in a number of international competitions, amongst which the shortlisted design for the new Italian Space Agency headquarters in Rome and the winning entry for the masterplan of Rotterdam Centraal in the Netherlands.
From 2002 he worked as project and site architect of the installations for the 2nd Valencia contemporary Art Biennale under the direct supervision of Will Alsop and with the artist Bruce McLean, spending four months on site in Valencia, Spain, supervising the construction of 800 sqm of art installations and exhibitions.
In 2003 he helped to develop the Alsop range of products and furniture initiated with the Bienal, most notably for Alessi on the Tea and Coffee Towers project in the same year. He is still designing tableware and accessories for Alessi.
Subsequently he was employed at Marks Barfield Architects in London, for which I have worked on, amongst other projects, a feasibility stage of a Crossrail station and the Woking Art and Heritage Galleries project, detail design Stages E and F.
Moving back to Florence he began collaborating with the multi-disciplinary office Terrastudio, following a series of small scale interior projects and completion structures for a touristic port in Tuscany, also collaborating with the artist Maurizio Nannucci with the production of elaborates for his urban-scale installations.
For a brief period Federico collaborated with Fuksas MArch in Rome as a director of competitions and international projects and, after moving to Bologna, with Mario Cucinella Architects as team leader on the project for the new hq of ISTAT (Italian Statistics Agency) and on the detailed design of the facades of the new Four Hospitals in Tuscany (Prato, Pistoia, Apuane, Lucca).
Federico sees his involvement with teaching as a complement to his work, something which is creatively inspiring and morally rewarding, helping him to push the envelope of professional practice. He began in 1997/98 after his degree, when he tutored at the Università degli Studi in Florence assisting Prof. Remo Buti, who also supervised his graduation thesis, in his course of Interior Architecture, following the work of 18 groups of 5th year students to completion.
In 2004-5, during his employment at Marks Barfield Architects in London, he was co-tutoring and lecturing Interior Architecture in a Degree Studio at the School of Architecture and Design, Brighton University. The subject of the studio was an investigation on the concept of inhabitable borders and the nature and function of physical barriers in the contemporary city. In 2005 he was invited as a guest at final critiques at a Diploma course at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London.
Federico has been teaching and coordinating the Interior Design Studio at KSU Florence since 2006. The Studio deals with issues of contemporary interior design within historical contexts. For the same program he also directs the course named Study Tours, which involves a series of field trips to various Italian art cities and international events in Italy, such as the Salone del Mobile in Milan.
From 2008 to 2020 he also ran several English language courses in the private school for international students Lorenzo De’Medici in Florence: Product Design, Design Materials, Modern History of Interior Design and Architecture and Contemporary Architecture.
All the courses are accredited by Marist College of Poughkeepsie (NY) and part of either a BA or PSC in Interior Design.
From 2010 to 2021 he has been directing the two propaedeutic first year courses of Metodologia Progettuale and Design I, part of the three-year course in Interior Design offered by IED Firenze (Istituto Europeo di Design).
In the academic year 2014-15 Federico worked as adjunct professor at the University of Bologna participating in the Product Design Studio for second year students.
From September 2012 he teaches Furniture Design to international bachelor and master students at the Florence Institute of Design International (FIDI). Since 2016-17 he also supervised Interior Design thesis projects at FIDI in a course denominated Design Research/Design Systems, validated by the University of Chester (UK).