Marcello Nizzoli
Marcello Nizzoli (born January 2, 1887 in Boretto , Reggio nell'Emilia , Italy ; † July 31, 1969 in Camogli , Province of Genoa ) was an Italian architect , industrial designer and graphic artist specializing in commercial graphics .
life and work
Marcello Nizzoli studied architecture , painting and graphics at the Scuola di Belle Arti in Parma from 1910 to 1913 . He started working as a painter and joined Italian futurism . In 1918, Nizzoli founded a graphics studio in Milan . He began to work as a commercial artist in various fields. For example, he designed silk scarves with patterns in the Art Deco style . He exhibited these silk scarves at the Monza Biennale in 1923 and in Paris in 1925.
He also designed posters , among others for the Campari and Maga companies in the 1920s. Since the 1930s Nizzoli worked as a graphic designer for Olivetti . He designed the advertising, posters and corporate identity for Olivetti and also worked as a product designer . In 1936 he was named Olivetti's Head of Product Design. He created the design for numerous typewriters and calculating machines , but also for paper knives and handles for Olivetti devices and sewing machines from Olivetti. His most famous designs are those of the " Summa " calculating machines , 1940; " Divisumma 14 ", 1947; " Elettrosumma Duplex ", 1954 and " Quanta ". Among the typewriters are the " Lexicon 80 ", 1948; the " Lettera 22 " and the " Lexikon 80 electric ", 1950 and the " Diaspron 82 ", 1959 to his well-known designs. Nizzoli always designed his products in such a way that, on the one hand, they were optimized for the industrial manufacturing process, while at the same time exhibiting a typical organic, almost sculptural, but at the same time functional product design. He also designed sewing machines for the Necchi company , for example the " Mirella ", 1957 and the " Supernova Julia ", 1961.
Marcello Nizzoli also worked as an architect. From 1948 on he designed apartments and housing developments for Olivetti's employees. In the 1960s he built office buildings for Olivetti.
In 1964, some of Marcello Nizzoli's products were shown at documenta III in Kassel in the Industrial Design department and also his posters for Campari and Olivetti in the graphics department . Nizzoli has worked as exhibition director at numerous Milan Triennials . In 1954 he received the Compasso d'Oro for his design for the " Lettera 22 " . In 1959, the " Lettera 22 " was recognized by the Illinois Institute of Technology as one of the " hundred best designed products of our time ".
Literature and Sources
- documenta III. International exhibition ; Catalog: Volume 1: Painting and Sculpture; Volume 2: Hand Drawings; Volume 3: Industrial Design, Graphics; Kassel / Cologne 1964
Web links
- Works by Nizzoli in Museum of Modern Art
- Examples of his work
- Materials by and about Marcello Nizzoli in the documenta archive
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nizzoli, Marcello |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian graphic artist, architect and industrial designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 2, 1887 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Boretto , Reggio nell'Emilia , Italy |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 31, 1969 |
| Place of death | Camogli , Genoa Province |