Everything you wanted to know about Italian design

To be convinced of the importance of Italian design (if anyone doubts), just go to any furniture store. Sofas, kitchens, bathrooms – whichever area you take, most of the products will be made in Italy. Italy’s design rule now seems completely natural. It is there that all the main factories are concentrated and all the best designers of various origins work. However, this was not always the case. Some sixty years ago, the concept of “Italian design” did not exist! To break into the leaders, the inhabitants of the Apennine Peninsula had to go through a difficult path. Before you are people, companies and events, without which the made in Italy phenomenon could not have taken place.

• Joe Ponti >>

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Some sixty years ago, the concept of “Italian design” did not exist!

He started his career when the profession of “designer” was not yet in nature. We can say that he created it. Working with the porcelain manufactory Richard Ginori and designing inexpensive furniture for La Rinascente, he showed back in the 1920s that mass production and art can coexist. Absolutely all of his works, be it the Pirelli skyscraper in Milan or the Superleggera chair for Cassina, went down in the history of world design and architecture. As a teacher at the Milan Polytechnic and editor-in-chief of Domus magazine, Ponti has trained generations of designers.

• Italian Furniture Fair >>

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The idea of ​​separating designer brands from classic ones at the Milan Salon has become the key to success.

The Milan Furniture Salon was founded in 1961 to promote Italian design. The simple idea of ​​separating designer and classic stamps was a huge success. This stimulated producers and made life easier for the public. The “modern” pavilion (then it had number 30) attracted journalists and dealers from all over the world, because it was here that one could see Arflex, Kartell, Boffi, Cassina and other brands with their revolutionary collections.

• The Milan Triennale >>

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Contrary to the name, the Milan Triennial was not held every three years, and at first it was not based in Milan at all! It was the first Italian exhibition (founded in 1923) dedicated to, as we would say now, industrial design. In the pre-war years, it was not very popular, but since the 1950s it has gained worldwide importance. It is now an important design institution, including the only Design Museum in Italy.

• Alessi >>

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Nowadays, no one is surprised by the pans and salt shakers developed by famous designers, but in the 1960s it was a revolution. Carlo Alessi and his son Alberto suggested that even the most ordinary and cheap things can be original, and they were not mistaken. The best architects and designers of the twentieth century (Mendini, Sottsass, Hadid, Nouvelle, Stark and others) collaborated with the Alessi brand, and its products are included in the collections of most modern art museums.

• Выставка Italy: The New Domestic Landscape >>

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The MoMA exhibition showed the world that the design center is now in Italy!

The phenomenon of Italian design began to be talked about in the 1960s, but the official date of its birth is May 26, 1972, the opening day of the Italy: The New Domestic Landscape exhibition in New York MoMA. 160 items produced in Italy in the previous ten years illustrated the present, and another 16 designs created especially for the exhibition predicted the future. The “New Home Landscape” has traveled the world, showing that the design center is now in Italy.

• Zanotta >>

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Italian design owes a lot to the intuition and courage of Aurelio Zanotta. It was thanks to him that such iconic things as the Blow inflatable chair or the Sacco beanbag chair filled with balls became possible. Zanotta moved forward not only design, but also technology, with each new thing opening a new direction in the production of furniture. It is said that many of the models, signed by famous designers, were invented by the director of the factory himself.

• Olivetti >>

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The Memphis objects looked more like totems of unknown religions than “normal” furniture.

Adriano Olivetti was the first tech manufacturer to involve designers in the development of models. The company has been producing “author” typewriters since the mid-1930s, but its greatest success has been brought by its collaboration with Ettore Sottsass and Mario Bellini. In 1952, New York-based MoMA hosted the Olivetti: Design in Industry exhibition and included several models in its collection, thus equating technique with contemporary art.

• The Castiglioni brothers >>

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Harbingers of “responsible” design, pop art lovers, collectors of unnecessary things, Achille (pictured) and Pierre Giacomo have created hundreds of iconic objects, including one of the most famous things of the XNUMXth century – the Flos Arco floor lamp. The brothers were not only brilliant designers, but also excellent organizers: they founded the Association for Industrial Design (ADI) and participated in the creation of the Compasso d’Oro (Golden Compass) * award, which still serves as the main reference point in the design world.

• Ettore Sottsass >>

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One of the greatest designers of the twentieth century, Sottsass believed that in things it is not so much the function that is important as the emotion it evokes. You can love or hate his work, but they leave no one indifferent. In the 1970s, Sottsass was one of the leaders of “radical design”. In the 1980s, already a middle-aged man, he founded the Memphis association, which gave birth to the anti-design style. The bright and strange objects of the group looked more like totems of unknown religions than “normal” furniture.

• Joe Colombo >>

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Joe’s brief career, who lived only 41 years, fell on the 1960s – the time of the discovery of new materials and technologies. The first fully molded plastic chair (Kartell), the first fiberglass chair (Comfort), the first acrylic glass lamp (O-Luce) – with every thing the designer invented the future, which earned him the title of the main Italian futurist.

• Pininfarina >>

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The main victories of Italian design were closely related to new technologies.

This is relevant:

• What a woman wants: 9 New Year ideas The women’s festival Femme Fest, just held in the Moscow Manege, provided visitors with a bunch of ideas for New Year’s gifts that will not leave indifferent the beautiful half of humanity.
• What fashionable dishes look like: 5 trends Glass and porcelain on your table can be trendy too! Here are five of the hottest trends in cookware design.
• How to choose a warm blanket A blanket for winter should be light, warm, soft and not prickly. It should “breathe” and not cause allergies. What kind of filler meets all these requirements?
• Interior horoscope What do your interior preferences depend on? According to astrologers, it depends on which planet was at a certain point in the firmament at the time of your birth. Believe it or not, check it out!