Marco Zanuso

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Marco Zanuso photographed by Paolo Monti , 1960

Marco Zanuso (born May 14, 1916 in Milan ; † July 11, 2001 ) was an Italian industrial designer and modernist architect.

life and work

Zanuso is considered one of the fathers of Italian industrial design. In cooperation with the BBPR architects' group , he played a key role in the debate about modern building and design in the post-war period. Zanuso was one of the first to deal with the question of the industrial production of everyday objects using new materials and technologies.

After graduating in 1939, he was an editor at Domus (1947–1949) and Casabella (1952–1954) as well as a founding member (1956) and president of ADI (1966–1969; Associazione per il Disegno Industriale, the Italian “Society for industrial design ”).

In 1948 Pirelli founded the company Arflex , which produces modern furniture from innovative materials such as foam rubber , and commissioned Zanuso to develop a specific design. The chair models "Antropus" and "Lady" (both 1949) are among his first works. The latter won first prize at the Milan Triennial in 1951. The chairs are still in production today.

In addition to other well-known Italian designers and architects, Zanuso was a member of the jury of the “ Compasso d'Oro ” several times (1954, 1955, 1956, 1998) , the ADI award for industrial design that Zanuso helped to create.

He worked with the German designer Richard Sapper a. a. for the electronics manufacturer Brionvega and for Siemens .

From 1961 to 1991 Zanuso taught at the Politecnico in Milan . Many of his works are exhibited in museums such as the New York Museum of Modern Art or the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein .

Web links

Commons : Marco Zanuso  - Collection of images, videos and audio files