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Italian Design
Such masters of the Fifties and
Sixties as Aulenti, Castiglioni and Magistretti
did a very good job indeed if we consider that during those
years Italy became a crossroads for a new generation of creative
minds on an international scale. For industrial, furniture
and car design, Italian style stands out for its blend of
imagination and precision planning. The reason for this is
that Italy is full of excellent training institutes, avant-garde
design schools and university faculties and exhibitions abound
as do centres for communication and shows. The scenario today
is immensely varied and dynamic with distribution and production
systems that are high on flexibility and a great many companies
behind the new names in young and talented designers.
Italian design combines functionality
with irony, focussing also on materials formerly regarded
as waste or makeshift products allowing objects to be successfully
reinvented. Italian design is pleasing and fluid yet complex
as well, being charged with emotion and filled with suggestiveness
and unrest reflecting concerns expressed through the the media
and world communication. So apart from being functional. many
objects also contain a highly humane and emotional element,
and indeed this type of design is classified as “emotional
design”.
Another category is “convivial design”,
a term coined by Aldo Cibic to describe certain types
of tables and chairs as well as imaginative lamps, stainless
steel pan sets and small objects. In the field of home interiors,
modern design has found the ultimate means of materialising
functionality, exemplified in Italan designers’ splendid
sofas and famous armchairs or else in original room dividers.
In contrast with emotional trends, works of severe rationality
come into their own thanks to careful research into materials,
colours and fabrics; one such example is the way in which
design is applied to lighting, resulting in the creation of
fine lamps for offices.
There are even sculptors who have turned
to design, in whose works “design is enriched with the
fantastic moods of sculpture”.
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