Anti-Design designers

Anti-Design is a design mixed with humanity. Modernists wanted to create objects that would fit in with modern lifestyles and be useful.  Anti-Design tried to break down moderate veneration of the object.

Vico Magistretti (1966)

The Selene chair by Vico Magistretti was made of reinforced polyester. Within Anti-Design there was a huge preoccupation regarding space and storage. Anti-Design designers often tried to create designs that can be stackable or easy to store. This chair could be stacked in order to save space. With radical design like this, at that particular period, it was always difficult to find a manufacturer that would produce it. This piece was manufactured by Artemide.

Stackable plastic chairs have become so common now that we almost forgotten their origins.

Gianfranco Frattini and Livio Castiglioni (1969)

The Boalum flexible lamp. It consisted of a long plastic tube with light bulbs wired up inside, so it would form a luminous tube. The form is indeterminate and can be manipulated by the owner.

Enzo Mari (1969)

The Reversible Vase by Enzo Mari. It was made from ABS plastic and manufactured by Domese. It can be displayed upside down.

Piero Gilardi (1967)

Piero Gilardi produced a structure called I Sassi which means ‘The Rocks’. These are actually chairs made of polyurethane. Here the form mislead the function as they look like rocks. Now obviously, a rock is hard and durable which these means that the qualities do not match with the function of the chair, which is supposed to be soft and comfortable. This is defying Modernist functionalism. It makes the function illegible.

Ettore Sottsass (1966)

Ettore Sottsass designed a series of cupboards. These cupboards are made from plywood. They look strange but these are laminated. 

Paolo Lomazzi (1970)

The famous Joe Sofa was designed by Paolo Lomazzi and named after Joe Colombo, a legendary Italian designer. It is made from polyurethane and covered with leather. It looks like a giant baseball catcher’s mitt.

References:

• Toronto, N/A. Anti-Design [online] available at: http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/antidesign/