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ISBN: HB: 976-0-9578.5388-2 974-0.8578 5389-9 PDE: 978.1-4725-5842-8 Pubs 978-0.8578-5390°5 iar of Congres Cataloging in ablicion Daa Tieden 1) Maen aly: hiking cent ian ei dd by Ge Lee Mai ‘Kal lan = 1888 978048578539. (pbk) shi 978.0857 39.9 tarda) ISBN 37R85785390" ea) 1, Desgn—Socil peel 2 Deg Ht 20 cen 3, Beso aly “Hiton-—2srccrny I. Leda, Ge tr af, tamer her ee es infancy sis in Kaly thus cewhe Ths may ey well have todo withthe heritage of Farin, aly’ Indusrialision was le, slow and picemesl—hence he fication held for 3 Ir Mass production of conse: god ona wigtcans ele woul bes tng {ie Js coming 0 the incentives for consolidating the industrial design profess ce feo Sul some lain achitets, ats and theoreticians were concerned with the eee, ‘ular of ei production, although hr ineret wa aly aexthetisating ons he social implications so hody debated in cenal and notheen Eavope at isting The 933 onwards) were important Bicnnal and Triennali in Mona {moed to Milan from 193 P laboraoris for what was calle thecal materiale and the interaction between the ats, bue ia this aly peviod they mostly functioned as showeases for the Borghese The pionces ofthis new, bourgeois demise included Gio Ponti, Luigi Fn, Gino i For companies suc as Rotana, Olivet olin, Giuseppe Pagano and Piero Chiesa, working for eomp and Columbus (Figare 0.5). In this eal period, they were more concerned with creating, a nye or expression thar flected the chante of indus production aad differed from artisan tadition thin with proving «public with afordable and rational products The aim was to unify the diferent asic operations in a singe Fundamental experience able to transform de face ofthe environment which we live, to create a now sy However, sexing what the Second World War dito the production system and the life of ordinary people, Gio Poni became intrested inthe social responsibility of indus trial design ln 1943 he wrote ‘Only in ae cases has she proton of domentc equips sacked Fors suitable for ou es, bu hese sporadic examples, whlch ate reserve fr alimited category of ons due wo thei exclusivity, cannot sty the needs of common peoples? interwar bourgsois formalism Ponits socal awakening was symptomatic af shift fo uma to che ‘proletarian’ idealism of che ely pose peiod, which significant ic of design reform, S08 Sewn modern by he 35 Ohl Su opera died by ‘Altander Slavs Li Fight Gino Folin, Osea Nene dela Scere eterno Lorde Ving Suction 1112 made in italy "THE REPUBLIC AND PU EERE The pesiod sfie the Seoond Word War witnessed the consolidation ofthe lain Re- public at we know it today, swell sche founding of the main political balance of power and the new sace structure. The Chistian Democrats (Democtaia Cristiana [DC]} fined and ceeined power through the first post-war legiatur, from 1948 to 1953. Although many Ialianssoon beeame dsatisied withthe government, the DC remained the largest single party by fat receiving 40.1 per cen ofthe vote i the 1953 general ece Hon when Giuseppe Pella formed a minosty government ring an the sport of the somll centre snd right-wing paces. The 1953 election heralded along pevid of table insabiliy’ in which the DC and minorigy coaiion governments rapidly exchanged powesso that cei feedom of ation wa severely cutaed aly becamte a non-soxialst, democsacy, despite the strong presence of socialist and communist groups (che Com nist Paty received 22.6 per cen ofthe vote in the 1953 election). Ta the word of industal design, the socialise and communist influence surfaced in the VII Trennale di Milano, for example, which wat instantly duobe the ‘proletarian Tiiennale. If the lefewing parties had succeded in gang government inflence, the development of Halian design might have taken adiferene path, Instead, che Kalan na sion and che history of ralian design alike were formed under the ale ofthe IC Another prominent feature ofthe Tlian stae wa the enti pubblici—government special agencies of which cher were 841 national examples in 1947, The mes impor tant of these were the autonomous state agencies administrating the ralways eephone system, posal services and sate monopolies The largest tate agency was the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (Iitao pela Rcortruzione Industrial [IRT.), which em- ployed 216,000 staff by 1948, working acros key indus lke sec, engineering, ship building, shipping electricity and communications (telephony), Through the IRI, the stae conttlled a large number of companies, alongside piveteinvesots who ofien hel shares in these joint-stock enterpsss. ‘The TR rendered the state and the DC ment less dependent on the private industrial lite, aswell t enabling che sate to ery importanc pat in che impending ‘economic mace’ (Figure 0:6) usu srt alike Betain, Germany and France, lay didnot participate inthe ist wave of in- Alutitsation in the ninersrh century. This relatively late engagement with indus, ‘combined with government polices, contibuted 0 Tay’s parcula industial stue ture, dominated by sll, fen fimily-owaed companies, While some lage coxpora tons made indispensable contributions eo Kellan industry, in comparison with Ilys European neighbours that had industalsed ean smaleefumasdorninatd the Italian context. This situation is offen claimed ro have been favourable o the developmen of design: les tradition meant fewer obstacles and les baggage from the pat, moce firedom in innovation and, posibly, more daring experimentation, A young, divers fied and flexible industrial structure could, without the burdens and sestsctions of past _— = ed by th alan soa ough was ne of many erarpres controle by 2 ec nae pre Reon ante) AI bare aap loys rata, for oar ough 98 age courtesy OF Arc tc EN Fig 06 ‘Te al company AGH the late for Insert Rc portant deg emscner with ‘Braun sean Fromm Con d\mpez os created by technological inaovations in fat in new were fen ed srg xpsimentaton wih ew savy in che loosest sense promised success ngete fas noted that Italian industry was characterised. 1 respond more cay in eae of aed trations, meee the new cond companies, ar-up dificult ‘manufacturing methods, while embracin in formal ters, Silsy, Renzo Zor by an clastic internal truce, which enabled it te an increasing interest in industrial design. ‘However, lager companies, £0, esi sin on to he culture materiale exxende bond his own She conteibured ro che the compas aging your fusion of industrial des ng in the public discourse on ction 13made in italy ‘monographic exhibition “as that favoured inventive design: many firms had cratch; the side. cousunenon crt ‘he Kelian economy grew considerably in the period ater dhe Second World War. ‘the anomie boom increased public wath and private consumption. ‘The ttc ofthe one sumer goods industry. eapecially electric appliances, radios and eclevsions offal te vision broadcases started in 1954), and the evolution of matsp increasing standard af ving pein The scooter ley illusrates the increased importance of consumer goods during the poser period font wth, Pag Vo ; ‘ ; 0 Va desig by Constng Dace in 1946, and InocensLambret dese y Coon es ?, designe by Care Pain n 1947, demand the mule. The wr th fis inal as oF mr aspera a ofthe popes in he eas dca flowing ne Seed Ne scooter was enjoyed bythe middle lacs, but twas noc long before it became cents & wotking chs conse (Thoms Brands chap ea lune te ee ee secre of Vip ur cure) The net sp inthe deelojment of «cone {ule wrcindig pena wasp, tng te need wei ie na les wa th mich deal alan Valle, the at 50, doped ye Gite in 1956. The neg eis snd nel for nde, potatoe cell not dni bythe ding ofthe mame ge sone es with cormoi iinof ec n rm of employment eee Peet Provides fora coorextua dscasion of la’ car indestey, . rare of the Maal Pan snd noe fe oes inching tha of ay, opened up fom the 19501 fan cosonie net ne tively impressive. Between 1950 and u ‘oNP pty impesie Bea 1950 an 1960, ean os aod pe SN) Imad sly by 59 pr cnt. whe the cresning tamer fa hee er cn or Scania 35 percent an fot Great Btn 2 et co a 46-1950 and 196-196, indy conta toe OND ose a GNPIn 195310 5.2 per enn 956 und 6 freon oni The eins fori emake devapret he slay hen ned Ml Pan ‘td, government incervention and the characteritic ofthe indusial suucai Trg additonal cements should be mentioned: Fast, immense miggation eo the industrial femtes inthe north exceeded the demand fo labous, resulting in high unemployment Goering | nt ehroughout the 1950s). Sond, unemployment, combined with ‘weak Labour unions allowed wages to semain modest, thereby improving profitbllisy ind avoiding inflation, At the sume tne, Kay managed to crest «vital domestic mar ket consumpeion increased an incredible 59.8 pe cent berween 1950 and 1961." “Ths considerable growth in private consumption ad industal ouput, and the capid crolution of echnology and production methods, swongly influenced Iialan industrial design. Grooving purchasing power enabled te public ro shift fom acqulvng basic ne fesiies co demanding mote diversified, advanced and refined products satisfy the expanding upper-level maker. Ths development challenged the ascetic foundations of rodent dessa changes design os Bet EG To aD Throughout the 1960s, aly stengthencd ies postion asa work-leading laboratory for new design ideas for example, taking che lend in che anidesign movement ofthe late 1960 and in postmodernism a decade later. The growing distance of war and poverty formed the evolution of design in che st half of che 1960s, The ‘proletaria’ mindset Aisinished atthe marker for products that satsfed wants eather chan needs increased, “Thisdeveloprnene was teflced in che themes of the iennall the VI Teennale in 1947 examined reconstruction asa sci problem, the 1960 edition was dedicate tole ca «la scuola (house and schoo!) and a the XII Tesnnale of 1966 the theme was emo libero (lve tim) (Figure 0.7). Kalan society and design had changed profoundly through the immense development of dhe 1950s, and the grow in wealth and techno- logical invention continued in che 19605 Ta lay, che term bel devgn represented the mainstream commercial design that ex petimenced with aew shapes and materials, incorporating the plastic revolution led by companies such as Kattll and designets including Joe Colombo, Marco Zamuso, Rich- ard Sapper and Matio Belin, The invention of polypropylene made it posible co make ‘olid chai, ables and domestic quent from ane cast ln every conceivable colour and form Te wl and abilcy to experiment made lel «pionce in radical moder de ithe tid-1960s, che symbiosis of desigo and industry was heavily citiqueds fist and most powerfal reactions in Taly was the move amoag the country’s to diseance production and consumptca." lopment was apart of, and inspired by new rica expresions in at poll tics and the youth culrue ofthe 1960s. Advance i space technology and cultural re sponses such a Stanley Kubrick’ im 200A Sace Ody inspired designers to create Fauristc habitats, The American hippie movemene and the sudent rots in European cites presaged the occupation of che XIV Ti ing pop rss such as Roy Lichtenstein and Any Warhol ifluenced tli designers to play wich fooms, symbols and connotations. The result was objects that wece more ae duing the summer of 1968." Lead: Introduction 1516 made tn itaty Senna anova pcg tm eaeue Re Seer on ied miro ate the Teale & Mane 960 nae oa arn eee iow on adr W Tiel Hane (950) nage cures of Foon, stn an pce haan ad Ca by Gi pris Som 1971 and the chait/bed Pratone by Gruppo Strum from 1970. : late 1960s, including Superstidio and Archizoomn Astociati, bork Reseed caeea 1966 eyo Nein nd Aine ena epee Tanne same yeas Grup 999, ound te allonng yeaa Hee nn lel, Carlo Caldini, Fabrizio Fiumi and Paolo Galli and Gruppo G4, launched int !ate 1960s by Giantianco Facheeti, Umberto Onsoni, Gianni Parecht, Gaerne tes sand Roberto Ubaldi. Theie common denominator was the deste to cri reed ts both founded ip Florence in to ctu the world oom 2 protoiypes without ever being ‘reduced. A notable exception was Piero Gatti Fanco Teodoro and Casa Puli fmous Sacco chair of 1968, which became a huge commercial succes (Figure D8). THE Powe OF Par of consumption, and most of thet projets remal Italy's suceasion of design groups adopted vatous approaches fiom the theoreti the playful as lare 1960s antidesign (cadical if design, critical design) and is extque of Fig 08 Ancdeign goat for te 1968 Zancea Sacco beanbag deine by Pers Gat, Franca Teodoro and taryotZaroea SpA consumption developed into the neoradical design of the late 1970s and extly 1980, partly in opposition to acomodesnisas. In 1973 Michele de Luechi founded the group (Cavart in Pai, and Ugo la Petra co-founded Glebal Tels at the Caahel offic with sn amalgam of notable individuals and groups, including Andrea Branzi, Ricardo Dal isi, Michele de Lucchi, Alessandro Mendini BtoreSotsas, Gruppo 9999, Superstudio and Seadio Alchimis, founded in Milan in 1976 by Alesands0 Guesslero and still active today. Design acivty and debate in Tay since 4970 have ecsuked feom the work of design networks cented not only on design groups and key individuals (Soteses prs pie inthis volume) but alzo oa mediating lla (edited by Alessandro Mendiat fiom 1970 ro 1975) and ‘eminent among them; see Penny Spake’ ch channels, auch ae Casa ‘Modo (1977-2006, founded by Alessandco Mendini), as well as existing tes including Damas (1928-) and Abitare(1962-);* educationalinsttutions, notably in Florence and andas discussed below —exhibitions and rade ir Introduction 17The pivotal 1972 exhibition Jia: The New Dometic Landeape atthe MoMA in New York oeucred at a poin when the rita lof at 1960s antidsign had doe va another tranche of dsifiction, his time ditected not at neamodemism bes sate tthe way een tality had been commadied (se Catharine Ross chapter in hie Telume Work on play at MoMA propos dat designers soa hi fon denn 10 esgniog bchavious” and chata pastoral or primitivecrafepracive ould nen antidote industrial design for mass production. Sprke notes inher cape here che Sorsas bcame depressed by the choughr chat he, ata designer, was an encny pendacer of podces. Yes, however policaly commie radical and neoraialdvign mga have ben, it functioned neverieles, aa cay for dsgn with pli purtow {though Atchizooos closed tlaively eal in 1974 (he ame year that Giyglrs influendal Volkswagen Golf was launched), i was the eum ofthe decade in 1986 hee heralded cel shift in Ialian design, within a context of political turmoll. Ae Let merged from che particulary cublent years of the mid 0 late-1970s, in which sie ceunty had sustained thousands of ecoris attack and the kidnapping of Presdene Aldo Moro in 1978 by the Brigate Rosse (founded in 1970), the porentis toomnrans titel and ie rsatane seus consume, cinched the poputary of otk oa imunisr and the Chrian Demacras in Ital. Pltcaly, the 1980s wer eharecroocd by pluralism: by 1981, when the census showed the Ialian population had rien 56 3 milion, Gloanni Spadolio became the fist non-Christian Democrat lain pine Innit His Rive-pary coalition government, the pentparti, rained in power cnt 1992, In this political climate, the Radical Pary (Panto Radical), wth support fom pte aris, was able to push dheough series of lgiative reforms inluing tho lated co divorce and abortion. Duting the 1980s in ley inflation fl and the oomenny grew, with growth mostly among small and mediuu-siced unily ems andconeomnary, “indus distice! of specialisation in one product type * The year 1980 was a watershed for Hain design, both mate market and vinegar The Compass d'Oro ha ben telaunched in 1979, these year the the rma, brolic Glogs Gingiaro, who aho designed the aforementioned Valeogen Gall slsigned the Far Panda, Launched in 1980, che Panda remained in prolucson wo 2003, when a fs redesign was introduced: a second redesign followed in 2011, Ws ide 6.5 milion Panda have been sold (ee Federico Paolin’s chapter in this alene for more on the market penetition of che small faily ct). (See Figure 0.9) If che Panda exemplified Iealy’s sucess in mast manufac of et seonore and manufsctting base tht fitted Hal ein role in the cmerenee of postnodeta design.” As Glenn Adamson and Jane Pavct note in t mcemt ane of postmodern desig, "ate capitalist, pos-fordi service culate could mex locaned, specials and tadtional forms of production, shake hands and do busine * In 100g Venice hosed the inaugural Architecture Biennale, with exhibits Including Palo Por toshesis The Presence of the Pas’ and Alessndso Mendinis The Banal Ofc, whic ‘amined poxmodeinism and posal dsgn respectively. The fllowing yer jas mo ie cesuton i 1982 (Archivio Superstdi lunches Superstdio was winding dow ies frst exibition, Born of programme in 2001), Memphis ins ongoing exhibition programme in 2001), Memphis sage — Sorts’ disatisfaccion with what Spark terms the excsively thor sie approach of Sud Ahi combined wit ln onda pala Us pop ealtre, mpased both an imagicatve, ctwalisic approach roche eS yodemism in the 1980s and 1990s is ol “ample, the household goods of Ales .p-A.epitomising dom: tie postmodernism. An eats (990, i provided an opporcunity to nfect on Kalan posto ean Design 1964-90 sign owl at consbuce os hinoiogaply ae Tea 1980 yao meri eo fe ete ox ithe sind a fee pb eo ne x pail sean whe ahs by 192 al pall ems 1s pee fhe os domes rtd ue wm ine Whi Tao pga ds the Domus Academy, opend in 1983, the same year a he Intemational Can “ Sci nal Design GCSID ier reared inl been ors th Po Ms inBocnadages i insal e Inunced Te tongentpel coraption scndal ed opti colpe, the osu o fie ofthe pentapartizo pari in 1994 and the rise of moderate right Fore alia party ga? Fun pte an On td 320 tots /CCRE CConnos thapommons meds rvs Fle Fas panes pa