Paolo Deganello

Paolo Dagenello was, with Andrea Branzi one of the founders of the Archizoom group of radical designers who came together in Florence 1966. When Archizoom petered out, Dagenello founded the Colletivo Technici Progettisti to continue his campaign for furniture design that appeals to the imagination. His 'torso' lounge chair of 1982 for Cassina rivalled the collections of Memphis in oerversity but was also a serious re working of furniture ideas and forms from the fifties.

Nendo, Galleria Jannone

The Japanese design practice Nendo will present some new works within a solo exhibition at the Galleria Jannone, 125 Corso Garibaldi, during this year’s Salone del Mobile from 12 – 17 April. ‘textured transparancies’ is a collection of objects which explore transparency’s infinite nuances. For the ‘transparent table’ – the first object of the collection – the designers cast clear acrylic in a wooden form with a strong grain. The result is a table top with a very unique optical effect.

Brodie Neill

Designed by Brodie Neill

Flowing lines and surfaces fold, expand and merge. They form an alluring three-dimensional, enveloping and open structure. This is a sculptural-lamp of extreme visual lightness.  It is a kind of ultra contemporary and dream-like mobile.  A shape intended to diffuse light in an evocative way.
Inspired by natural form, it calls to mind the organic lines of a clover leaf. The light source, hidden at the meeting point of the three petals, casts light onto the internal surfaces in a continuous play of reflections and rebounds. Clover is the result of research into new luminous expressions by Brodie Neill and Kundalini.
Suspension Lamp. Molded polyurethane body with opaque finish, aluminum reflector.

Buckminster Fuller 1895-1983

Richard Buckminster Fuller was one of the most ardent and prolix supporters of high technology. Although his actual material creations were relatively few, the apocalyptic, prophetic character of his writings and thought have in recent years made him the darling of high tech architects and of all designers who are concerned with the earths resources.

Fuller was born at Milton, Massachusetts. He never had any formal architectural training; in fact he never had formal training of any sort. Traditinal building techniques came to antagonize him. and in 1972 he created the concept of a 'dynamic' with 'maximum'. It was not to use bricks and mortar, timber and lathe but was to be a tensile, domed structure where the fabric would be used as a grid to supply the services man needed for survival.
Fuller was very influential and was an idealist who viewed the world as a single entity, without national boundaries and who was commited to the idea that design should serve the needs of man not industry.

I love it

Achille Castiglioni 1918-2002

Achille Castiglioni is on of three Milanese brothers who were all designers. Achille's interests in design was first inspired by his elder brothers, Pier Giacomo and Livio, who designed dramatic plastic cased radio receivers for Phonolain in 1938 with the help of Caccia Dominioni. Achille read architecture at Milan Polytechnic, graduating in 1944 and was one of the founders of the Association per il Disegno Industrial in 1956. He designed furniture, lighting and appliances and his products won awards in 1955, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1967, 1979 and 1984.

Six of his pieces are in permanent collection of New York's Museum of modern Art. Among his best known pieces are a kneeling stool for zanotta and his Arco light for Flos. After the second world war, Achille Castiglioni was one of the most prolific of all Italian designers and he evolved a unique philosophy which derives from 'ready made' concept of Marcel Duchamp, like his chair inspired by a tractor seat. His clients included BrionVega, Flos, Gavini, Knoll, Kartell, Zanotta, B&B, Ideal standard, Siemens, and Lancia. He contributed to design magazines and the Italian national press. His philosophy of design was that it is an attitude arrising out of critical habit.. an art insofar as it invents a function and translates it into form. Wit was the central element in his designs: sometimes incongruous materials, such as found objects are bound together in pursuit of functional elegance. His 'Arco Lamp' for flos uses a marble base weighing about 100 pounds to support a thin arc of pressed aluminum and a light spun aluminum reflecto; his 'tolo' lamp for the same company uses a car headlamp.
In his ingenuity with materials, his sense of joy, his imaginative use of industrial components and techniques, Achille Castiglioni was an absolute definition of what a great Industrial designer should be.