Joe Colombo (Minimum Design)

Description: During his brief but prolific career, Cesare "Joe" Colombo became one of the most inventive figures in contemporary italian design. His futuristic designs included 'micro-living-worlds'; multi-functional objects that aimed to save space and time and accommodate the needs of modern living spaces. These objects led to his Visiona, the 'habitat for the future' that reinvented seating, storage, lighting and other furnishings that reflected his emphasis on change and the possibilities offered by new technologies. All his items were affordably priced and designed for large-scale production and consumption, making him a major player in the evolution of the iconic 'sixties style' that is still prevalent in interior design trends today. Published in the same style as the successful Minimum Architects series, the Minimum Designers series includes books about the major figures in the field of design, creators of objects that have become a part of our daily lives. The lamp on our desk, the chair we are sitting on or the glasses we are wearing have a genius behind to be discovered. These volumes will introduce in a practical manner the personalities and the works of the world's major designers by way of an historical-critical introduction to the work and life of each individual designer. An accurate selection of the designer's most famous objects arranged in chronological order and a critique of his or her work summarising the most significant reviews published in magazines and newspapers will complete the subject.

Review: This series of books reminds us of the beauty of practicality by presenting the search for it in a remarkable group of twentieth-century designers. Seeing any work superbly accomplished is interesting, often inspirational; to be given insights into the processes of such work is beguiling and salutary to those of us who make things. --Parenthesis Magazine

Author Biography: Vittorio Fagone is an art historian and contemporary art critic. He is on the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Milan and a Visiting Professor in the Art Department at New York University. Ignazia Favata Valentini is a professor of engineering at the University of Milan. She worked as Joe Colombo's assistant from 1968 until his death and now manages and owns the Joe Colombo studio and is curator of the Joe Colombo archive.