The book examines how, over the last century, Italian architectural culture lies at the origin of and forms the background to industrial design. A useful tool for learning about the designers who left their mark in the Italian architecture and industrial design scenario of the 20th century.
The rise of industrial design, especially after WWII, came about thanks to the work of a number of architects who became key players in the transition from the artisanal dimension of craft workshops to the industrial dimension of companies, both in furnishings and industrial design.
While analyzing the output of the most important Italian designers of the 20th century, Fiorella Bulegato and Elena Dellapiana highlight the coincidences and differences of methodological and practical approach in the activities of designers and architects. Various views emerge from different ways of conceiving the object: from seeing it as a structure, an agglomeration of components or a container of mechanisms, to reflections about the nature of materials, function and the debate about living space. The book is divided into four chronological sections (from the 1920s to WWII, the rise of industrial design in the 1950s, the crisis of the 1960s, and the contemporary status of industrial design). A chart has been compiled for each of the key players selected which, through parallel discussions about architecture and industrial design, associates designers with designer objects.