Made in Italy Rethinking a Century of Italian Design

by Lees-Maffei, Grace; Fallan, Kjetil

• ISBN13: 9780857853899
• ISBN10: 0857853899
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-01-16
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Goods made or designed in Italy enjoy a profile which far outstrips the country's modest manufacturing output. Italy's glorious design heritage and reputation for style and innovation has ‘added value' to products made in Italy. Since 1945, Italian design has commanded an increasing amount of attention from design journalists, critics and consumers. But is Italian design a victim of its own celebrity? Made in Italy brings together leading design historians to explore this question, discussing both the history and significance of design from Italy and its international influence. Addressing a wide range of Italian design fields, including car design, graphic design, industrial and interior design and ceramics, well-known designers such as Alberto Rosselli and Ettore Sottsass, Jr. and iconic brands such as Olivetti, Vespa and Alessi, the book explores the historical, cultural and social influences that shaped Italian design, and how these iconic designs have contributed to the modern canon of Italian-inspired goods.

Author Biography

Grace Lees-Maffei is Reader in Design History in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire, UK and is co-editor of The Design History Reader (Berg, 2010).

Kjetil Fallan is Associate Professor of Design History in the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas at the University of Oslo, Norway. He is the author of Design History (Berg, 2010) and the editor of Scandinavian Design (Berg, 2012).

Table of Contents

Introduction: The History of Italian Design, Kjetil Fallan, University of Oslo, Norway, and Grace Lees-Maffei, University of Hertfordshire, UK

1. A Historiography of Italian Design, Maddalena Dalla Mura, Libera Università di Bolzano, Italy, and Carlo Vinti, Università degli Studi di Camerino, Italy

PART 1: ACTORS
2. Ettore Sottsass and Critical Design in Italy, 1965-1985, Penny Sparke, Kingston University, UK
3. Domes to Domus (or how Roberto Mango brought the geodesic dome to the home of Italian design), Jeffrey T. Schnapp, Harvard University, USA
4. Tomás Maldonado and the Impact of the HfG Ulm in Italy, Raimonda Riccini, Università Iuav di Venezia, Italy

PART 2: CRAFTS
5. Craft, Industry and Art: ISIA (1922-1943) and the Roots of Italian Design Education, Elena Dellapiana, Politecnico di Torino, Italy, and Daniela Prina, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
6. Manufactured Identities: Ceramics and the Making of (Made in) Italy, Lisa Hockemeyer, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and Kingston University, UK
7. Crafting a Design Counterculture: the Pastoral and the Primitive in Italian Radical Design, 1972–1976, Catharine Rossi, Kingston University, UK

PART 3: SPACES
8. Private Exhibitions: Galleries, Art and Interior Design, 1920-1960, Imma Forino, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
9. Exhibiting Exhibitions: Designing and Displaying Fascism, Vanessa Rocco, Southern New Hampshire University, USA
10. This Way to the Exit: The Re-Writing of the City through Graphic Design (1964-1989), Gabriele Oropallo, University of Oslo, Norway

PART 4: INDUSTRIES
11. Designing a New Society: A Social History of Italian Car Design, Federico Paolini, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, Italy
12. Espresso by Design: The Creation of the Italian Coffee Machine, Jonathan Morris, University of Hertfordshire, UK
13. Italian Fashion: The Metamorphosis of a Cultural Industry, Simona Segre Reinach, Università di Bologna, Italy

PART 5: MEDIATIONS
14. Annus Mirabilis: 1954, Alberto Rosselli and the Institutionalization of Design Mediation, Kjetil Fallan, University of Oslo, Norway
15. A Vehicle for 'Good Italians': User Design and the Vespa Clubs in Italy, Thomas Brandt, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
16. ‘Made’ in England? The Mediation of Alessi S.p.A., Grace Lees-Maffei, University of Hertfordshire, UK

Notes on Contributors
List of Illustrations
Bibliography
Index