Born in Milan in 1942, graduated in Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano in 1969, he started the same year in collaboration with architect Marco De Carli in the field of design, architecture and graphics. In the 1970's it was the participation with architectural and furnishing proposals at the event "The living space for the 70s house" promoted by the Lissone Furniture Office in collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture. In 1975 he participated in the exhibition "The Living Space in Public Buildings" realized in connection with the XV Triennale of Milan. In 1979 he designed the selected Cartile bed for the exhibition "ltalienische Möbel Design 1950/80" at the Stadt Museum in Cologne. During the following years he has been in the field of design and artistic direction with furniture companies. Roberto Barbieri has collaborated with Zanotta since 1994 until his disappearance in 2012.