Born 1932 on the Island of Reichenau, Lake Constance, Germany. Training as typographer in Germany and in Switzerland.
Studies in graphic design from 1954 to 1958.
1960 emigration to USA. Working as a freelance designer in New York and San Francisco. 1963 return to Europe.
Settling in Munich. 1966 start of "Design M". First lamp: Bulb. Several design awards. Lamps in collections of different museums. Bulb, Gulp (1969), Light Structure (1970 as co-designer), Little Black Nothing and YaYaHo (1988), Los Minimalos Dos, Lucellino Wall, Wo bist Du, Edison...?, Zettel'z (1999), Porca Miseria! (2003) are included in the Design Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
June 1985: YaYaHo installation for the exhibition "Lumières Je pense à vous" at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
May 1986: Exposition "Ingo Maurer Lumière aha SoSo" at the Institute Français d'Architecture in Paris.
October 1986: Special and new designs for the exhibition "Design à la Villa Medici" in Rome. Awarded "Chevalier des arts et des lettres" by the French Minister of Culture.
May 1988: Installation of a lighting system for the exhibition "Design heute. Mass- Stäbe: Formgebung zwischen Industrie und Kunst-Stück" at Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
April/May 1989: At Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Jouy-en Josas (Paris), Ingo Maurer shows for the first time non-commercial lighting objects. Title of the exhibition "Ingo Maurer: Lumière Hasard Réflexion".
July/August 1989: Invitation by the Society of Soviet Designers to exhibit at the State Museum of Ethnography of the People of the USSR in Leningrad: "Design ... ?? --- !! Lighting by Ingo Maurer and his commando".
February 1991: Participation in exhibition "Münchner Räume" at the Stadtmuseum in Munich.
January 1992: Exhibition "Ingo Maurer: Making Light" in Munich at Museum Villa Stuck.
March 1993: Exhibition "Licht licht" at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
November 1994: Participation in exhibition "Identità e differenze. I racconti dell'abitare" at the Triennale Milano with special objects and installations.
March 1995: Participation in exhibition "Die Kunst Und Das Schöne Ding" at Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen.
January 1998: Awarded "Designer of the year 1997" by the German magazine Architektur & Wohnen.
November 1998: Exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York "Projects 66" with Fernando and Humberto Campana.
March 1999: Cooperation with Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake. Special effects and huge installation for Issey Miyake's défilé at La Villette.
September 1999: Design Prize 1999, awarded by the City of Munich.
October 2000: Lucky Strike Designer Award 2000 by Raymond Loewy Foundation.
April 2001: Primavera del Disseny 2000, awarded by the City of Barcelona. Exhibition and retrospective "Ingo Maurer. Passió per la Llum" at the Museum SantaMòniCA in Barcelona.
July 2001: Participation in exhibition "Wohnkultur" at the Stadtmuseum in Munich.
March 2002: Exhibition at Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt: "ephemeral visionary Ingo Maurer. Light" Exhibition "Ingo Maurer - Light - Reaching for the Moon".
October 2002/August 2003: Vitra Design Museum, Weil, Germany
November 2002: Prize "Collab's Design Excellence Award" by Philadelphia Museum of Art.
January 2003: Georg Jensen Prize 2002, awarded by The Georg Jensen Prize Committee.
September 2003: "The Fourth Oribe Award", awarded by the Design Academy Division, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.
February/May 2004: Participation in exhibition “Iluminar Design Da Luz 1920-2004” at the Museu de Arte Brasileira Fundacao Armando Alvares Penteado, São Paulo.
April/May 2004: Dansk Design Center, Copenhagen
July/August 2004: Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam
February/April 2004: Participation in exhibition “Brilliant” at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
September 2004/January 2005: La Grand Hornu, Hornu, Belgium
November 2005: Appointed Royal Designer of Industry by The Royal Society of Arts, London.
December 2005/January 2006: IVAM, Valencia, Spain
April 2006/June 2006: Tsukuba Museum of Art, Ibaraki, Japan
April 2006: Participation in exhibition "Le movement des images" at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
June 2006: Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of the Royal College of Art honoris causa.
July 2006/ September 2006: Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
September 2006: “The Fifth Abitare Il Tempo” prize, awarded by the Abitare Il Tempo Fair in Verona, Italy.
September 2007: Solo exhibition “Provoking Magic: Lighting of Ingo Maurer” at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York.
October 2006/ November 2006: Suntory Museum, Osaka, Japan
May 2008: Solo exhibition “Ingo, Piero e l’uovo” at Fondazione Carsipe, La Spezia, Italy.
February 2010: Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany 2010, presented by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.
June/August 2010: Solo exhibition “Complete with Bulb – Light by Ingo Maurer” at the Bauhaus Archiv, Berlin.
March 2011/February 2012: exhibition of selected pieces at the BMW World, Munich.
April 2011: ablaze – an installation by Ingo Maurer and Axel Schmid for the exhibition Mutant Architecture organised by Interni.
July 2011: Compasso d‘Oro for lifetime achievement, awarded by the ADI (Italian Association for Industrial Design).
November 2015: „Kulturpreis Bayern“ awarded by the Bavarian Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Art
From 2016: Participation at the touring exhibition “Handmade in Germany” in Macao, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and others, organized by “Direktorenhaus – Museum für Kunst Handwerk Design” in Berlin
November 2016: “Kulturpreis der Bayerischen Landesstiftung” in Munich
