He was born in 1932 on the island of reichenau, lake constance, germany.
training as typographer in germany and in switzerland.  
He studied in graphic design from 1954 to 1958 in munich.
In 1960 emigrated to usa, working as a freelance designer in new york
and San francisco. In 1963 returned to europe, settling in munich.
In 1966 he founded the studio 'design m' where he designed his first lamp: 'bulb'.
He was awarded 'chevalier des arts et des lettres' by the french minister of culture (1986).
He conceived several design awards,among them
'designer of the year 1997' by the german magazine 'architektur & wohnen',
the 'design prize 1999' by the city of munich,
the 'lucky strike designer award 2000' by raymond loewy foundation
 and the 'primavera del disseny 2000' by the city of barcelona.
Lamps in collections of different museums: 'bulb' (1966),
'light structure' (1970 as co-designer), 'little black nothing',
'yayaho' (1988), 'los minimalos dos' (1994), 'lucellino wall' (1992),
'wo bist du, edison...?'(1997) and 'zettel’z' (1999), included in
the design collection of the museum of modern art, new york.
the light objects are designed for his own company,
the 'ingo maurer gmbh', based in munich, and are available in 120 outlets worldwide.
In 2001 he opened his own store in new york.
Since many years he has done 'one of a kind' lightings, more or less art objects,
for private collections.  He and his team showed amazing light installations during
the international furniture and lighting fairs in cologne and milan.
Co-operated with japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake.
He designed special effects and huge installation for miyake's défilé at la villette (1999).
His work was featured in numerous exhibitions: at the Centre Georges Pompidou (1985)
and at the Fondation Cartier in Paris (1989), at the Stedelijk museum in Amsterdam (1993),
at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1998).
Retrospective 'passió per la llum' at the museum santa mònica in barcelona (2001).

Ingo Maurer is an 'outsider' :  he adds provocation and fun
to our ever so smooth design world.
With his last works 'LED', he once again breaks the limits of bourgeois middle class,
the so-called 'good taste' (...which he said, is so boring).
http://www.ingo-maurer.com



Excerpt taken from designboom.com