Italian Design.
Italy produced many great designers in the twentieth century ...but it wasn't until the mid-1960s that Milano became the center of the international design world ....in the late 1980s, Milan also became the fashion capital of the world.
Design in Italy is not just about image and appearance -- it is a highly academic subject and there are many philosophers and intellectuals who write on the subject of design.
Milan has attracted many of the world's most talented designers over the years ....the the biggest names in architecture and industrial design have, either trained in Italy or worked with Italian manufacturers.
One cannot start a discussion about the history of Italian design without mentioning Gio Ponti, the godfather of Italian Design. Ponti was such a major force on Italian design, the world would not look the same today, if he had not been alive.
In the 1920s, Ponti embraced the Art Deco style ...but infused it with references to historical Italian architecture and culture. His was always a very eclectic style ...never pure or self-consciously obsessed with ideology ... like the German design of that time.
Inspired by Classicism and the Renaissance ..but with a 20th century style, this ceramic object is from the 1920s. 
After WW2, Italy had to rebuild its economy ....they started by producing furniture objects made from cheap materials ...like plywood. The Italian style was always more expressive and emotional than the Scandinavian or German design.
Gio Ponto's "Superleggera" chair from 1951 ..and an interior by Ponti. 
A new Design Style started to emerge in the 1950s -- much of the Italian design of this time could be seen as being quite kitsch -- very artistic and decorative, but not at all in line with Bauhaus principles of form and function.
Some might call it "bad taste" design ....and to be fair, some of it is quite tacky and gimmicky ...but it was designed with artistic flair and a love for life and beauty.
Designers like Piero Fornasetti and Carlo Mollino are widely collected today, they were two of the most original designers of the twentieth century. Their objects are extremely decorative and expressive -- issues of "good taste" need not apply here.
Fornasetti's furniture and objects are very famous and still in production -- he has become a cult figure for some people. His, is not a style that I personally find appealing, but he was an extraordinary man nonetheless.


Carlo Mollino's designs often have very sexually suggestive undertones -- he was kind of a mad genius who designed everything from buildings to lingerie .....his style is organic, some might call it anthropomorphic, zoomorphic ...or even erotic. Mollino was a very eccentric man who was widely known to be very difficult to work with ... projects he was involved with often resulted in lawsuits ....however, he was a brilliant designer.




Other Italian designers also woking at this time were Carlo Graffi and Marco Zanuso.
Furniture by Carlo Graffi.

Marco Zanuso. The chair on the right is his "Lady" chair, which was very famous and widely imitated in the 1950s.

