By 2011, the year marking the 150th anniversary of Italy’s Unification, Italian design has seen more than its fair share of rhetoric. Certain exhibitions and publications have portrayed its history as a key to understanding Italian society and identity, as well as a stimulus for the future. According to this reading, after World War II, and in the wake of the economic miracle, a design phenomenon occurred, thanks to a relatively small group of passionate men and thanks, too, to enlightened (Milanese/Lombard) leaders of small and medium-sized companies, all of whom were motivated by a deep sense of beauty rather than by strictly commercial agendas. Although this process was chronologically behind that of other modern nations, Italian design maintained an avant-garde position. A group of products associated with the idea that Italian design and manufacture was superior, encapsulated in the slogan Made in Italy, was established, ranging from domestic goods to the automotive industry. These products blended perceived artistic genius with excess, and rigorous design with traditional craftsmanship. A special approach to design developed which has contributed to reshaping daily life in Italy, while also becoming an internationally-recognized model of high-culture. Held together by a presumed unity, this reading of Italian design reflects a historical and critical construction developed over a long period of time, and one which requires revising so that a wider range of views may be taken into account. The aim of this bibliographical essay is twofold: to outline the main features of historical writing on ‘Italian design’ up to the present century; and, secondly, to examine the more diversified readings and lines of research which, over the past three decades, have dealt with the history of ‘design in Italy,’ and which may help in re-examining the very idea of Italian design.
A Historiography of Italian Design
Dalla Mura M;
2013-01-01
Abstract
By 2011, the year marking the 150th anniversary of Italy’s Unification, Italian design has seen more than its fair share of rhetoric. Certain exhibitions and publications have portrayed its history as a key to understanding Italian society and identity, as well as a stimulus for the future. According to this reading, after World War II, and in the wake of the economic miracle, a design phenomenon occurred, thanks to a relatively small group of passionate men and thanks, too, to enlightened (Milanese/Lombard) leaders of small and medium-sized companies, all of whom were motivated by a deep sense of beauty rather than by strictly commercial agendas. Although this process was chronologically behind that of other modern nations, Italian design maintained an avant-garde position. A group of products associated with the idea that Italian design and manufacture was superior, encapsulated in the slogan Made in Italy, was established, ranging from domestic goods to the automotive industry. These products blended perceived artistic genius with excess, and rigorous design with traditional craftsmanship. A special approach to design developed which has contributed to reshaping daily life in Italy, while also becoming an internationally-recognized model of high-culture. Held together by a presumed unity, this reading of Italian design reflects a historical and critical construction developed over a long period of time, and one which requires revising so that a wider range of views may be taken into account. The aim of this bibliographical essay is twofold: to outline the main features of historical writing on ‘Italian design’ up to the present century; and, secondly, to examine the more diversified readings and lines of research which, over the past three decades, have dealt with the history of ‘design in Italy,’ and which may help in re-examining the very idea of Italian design.
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