Domitilla Dardi – författare

A tour through the dazzling Futurist Gesamtkunstwerk that was Giacomo Balla's home and creative laboratory Recently opened to the public for the first time, the home of the Futurist artist Giacomo Balla (1871–1958) is depicted and inventoried in this extraordinary book. The apartment in Rome in which Balla lived with his family for over 30 years was covered with lively murals, painted furniture, decorated utensils and clothes, as well as preparatory drawings, stage designs, toys and other works by the artist, together with paintings by his two daughters Luce and Elica. The numerous paintings by Balla kept in the apartment range from his early figurative period to the Futurist aesthetics of the 1910s and ’20s and a return to representation in the latter part of his life. Together they create a kaleidoscopic example of total design, reflecting the indissoluble link between art and life that lay at the root of Futurist thinking.

This book, dedicated to the history of design from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, is committed to drawing guidelines for the development of this discipline, offering a synthetic vision of the subject and, at the same time, highlighting elements for future investigations. If it's true that the history of artefacts and objects has always accompanied that of man, punctuated by turns occurring with the acquisition of technological innovations, it is in the mid-nineteenth century that we can retrace historically the professional figure of the designer, thus marking the birth of modern and contemporary design.The subject is branched and composite, embracing many disciplines: in addition to the field of furniture - which often exemplifies the broadest lines of design research in an excellent way - other sectors are considered here, from technical objects to graphics, from fashion to car design. Particular attention is reserved for the influence of the art world, with all its array of thought references that has constantly permeated the birth of design projects.

Joe Colombo (Milan, 1930-1971) was one of the greatest designers of the last century, visionary and ingenious, capable of giving shape to ideas that retain a striking relevance to this day.Trained first at the Brera Academy and then at the Polytechnic of Milan, Joe Colombo has expressed, in just 20 years of work, an absolutely innovative world view, placing man and his life at the centre of reflection, imagined a dynamic and transformable habitat both on a domestic and urban scale. A design in the round, aimed at satisfying every need – also thanks to technology and new materials – and to shape the space and its objects according to the different activities of the moment, be they working or social interactions.From here, the modular and dynamic furnishing accessories with futuristic lines, among which some pieces that have become iconic of Italian design stand out such as the Tube Chair, the Spider lamp (Compasso d’Oro 1967) or the Boby trolley (now at the MoMA in New York), the “monoblocks”, such as the Mini-Kitchen or the Total Table with integrated dishes, up to the global housing unit, a visionary “machine”, which encompasses all the needs of living.This volume constitutes the first catalogue raisonné of his work, of which about 180 projects are documented, divided between works still in production and historical works; introduced by the essays by Ignazia Favata - his historical collaborator - and Domitilla Dardi, it is completed by a critical anthology.Text in English and Italian.