Giorgio Riello - Biography#

Giorgio Riello is a Graduate in Business Economics of the University of Venice (1998) and completed his Doctoral Studies in Economic History at University College London (2002). He is currently Professor of Global History and Culture at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. He is the author of A Foot in the Past: Consumers, Producers and Retailers in the Long Eighteenth Century (Oxford University Press 2006) that was the finalist for the Longman/History Today book of the Year 2007. He has authored two further books in 2012 and 2013, more than forty papers and articles, and has co-edited eight books. He is editorial board member of ‘Revue d’Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine’; ‘Luxury: History, Culture, Consumption’; ‘Textile History’ and was co-editor of ‘Journal of Design History’ between 2005 and 2008.

He is currently the Director of the Global History and Culture Centre at the University of Warwick. His fields of expertise are located within the long chronologies and geographical spaces covered by Global History. His particular interests are directed towards issues of ‘material life and economic development’ and the relationship between consumption and production. His current research focuses on changes in consumer demand and their impact on the spheres of production and material culture, with specific reference to textiles and clothing. A specialist in textile history, he has since 2010 served as director of the Pasold Research Fund.

During his career he received several prizes and fellowships including the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Doctorate Fellowship (1999); the Fellowship of the Luigi Einaudi Foundation in 18th-Century Studies (2000); The Pollard Prize of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London (2001) and Philip Leverhulme Prize (2010). He has been a visiting scholar at the EHESS, the Stanford Humanities Center, the ANU Humanities Centre, and the European University Institute in Florence. His research has been supported by the Leverhulme Trust; The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC); the British Academy; the Scouloudi Award; and the Economic History Society. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.