MARCO ZANUSO
Marco Zanuso, designer and urban planner, is considered to be one of the founding fathers of Italian industrial design. Together with the BBPR group, Alberto Rosselli, Franco Albini, Marcello Nizzoli and the Castiglioni brothers, during the post-war period he contributed to the debate on the “modern movement” in architecture and design. Zanuso was one of the very first designers to become interested in the problems of mass-producing a product and applying new materials and technologies to everyday objects.
After graduating in 1939, he edited the magazines Domus (1947-49) and Casabella (1952-54), and was the founding member of ADI, the industrial design association, in 1956, and its chairman from 1966-69. He lectured at Milan Polytechnic from 1961 to 1991. Until 1963 he worked with Cini Boeri in the field of interior design.
In December 1948, he was commissioned with the set design for the three-act opera The Antrobus Family (by Thornton Wilder), staged at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. Zanuso named the armchair used for the performance “Antropus”, after the show. It was produced by Artflex in 1978.
In 1947, he began the first experiments with Pirelli foam rubber, which resulted in the material being used in chairs produced by Artflex.
His products received numerous awards (including eight Golden Compasses and six awards from the Milan Triennale). They are on show at the New York Museum of Modern Art and the permanent design collection at the Triennale (Martingala, Antropus, Lady, Tripoltrona, K49999, Fourline, Triennale, Woodline, Springtime, Square). The Italian post office dedicated a stamp, part of a design series, to his “Fourline” chair. Apart from domestic furnishings, he has also produced a huge range of objects including radios, televisions, telephones and sewing machines.
