Design in Italy: 1870 To the Present

The association of Italy with fine design has become so complete that, for many of us, the words 'Made in Italy' are synonymous with style, elegance, and taste. From light fixtures and tea kettles to shoes and cars and buildings, the Italians have brought a rich imagination to bear on the art of creating material objects. But the history of Italian design over the last hundred years is not just the story of style. Bound as it has necessarily been to the realm of commercial production, Italian design has played out many of the most important economic, political, and intellectual developments of the modern era.

Lively, comprehensive, and provocative, this volume presents the first fully-illustrated analysis of this remarkable design phenomenon. Beginning in the 1870s, this book delineates the complex relationship between designers and their industrialist patrons, between craft traditions and machine production, and between the powerful draw of the nation's extraordinary artistic patrimony and the inevitable approach of modernism. Author Penny Sparke describes the gradual growth of the industrial economy in the early years of the 20th century, analyzes the aesthetics of fascism, and details the international success of Italian mass-market production in the years following WWII - a success engineered to a great extent by the stylish, image-conscious appeal of Italian design.

The rise of conspicuous consumption during the '50s is discussed, as is the radical 'anti-design' critique of consumerism in the late '60s and the '70s, and the revolt against modernism that characterizes design today. Sparke describes the influence of Italian style abroad and highlights the impassioned theoretical debates over aesthetics and politics that have so powerfully marked the design field in Italy for the last 50 years.

Olivetti, Fiat, and Alessi; Bellini, Armani, and Sottsass: the work of Italy's most innovative designers and manufacturers is illustrated here.