Stefano Giovannoni (Minimum Design)

Description: Architect and industrial designer Stefano Giovannoni was born in La Spezia in 1954. He earned a degree from the Faculty of Architecture
in Florence in 1978. An unfailing creator of best-selling objects, starting from his first industrial project, the 'Girotondo' series for Alessi, he has
designed objects that have become full-fledged mass cults: the Bombo stool, Mami series of pots and Alessi bathroom have all garnered recordbreaking
sales within the design industry. Convinced that the best proof of a project's validity is its commercial success, Giovannoni succeeded in
blending the very high quality of his designs with the product's mass market appeal, interpreting and often anticipating the public's wants. While a
designer's work is usually identified with furniture design, Giovannoni's vast output instead ranges from designing cars to ice cream, from small and
large electrical appliances to electronic equipment. Published in the same style as the successful 'Minimum Architects' series, the 'Minimum Design'
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 them to be discovered. These volumes
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 completes 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
Contents: Stefano Giovannoni: Andrea Branzi; Stefano Giovannoni: from design to communication; Catalogue of Objects; The Objects; Interview;
What people say about him; Selected References.
Author Biography: After earning a degree in Architecture in Florence, Francesca Balena Arista was awarded a doctorate in Industrial Design at the
Milan Polytechnic, where she is currently a part of the Lab.I.R.Int Research Unit directed by Andrea Branzi and Michele De Lucchi. Her research
focuses on the history and criticism of design and architecture. She was the curator of the Archivio Storico del Centro Studi Poltronova, for which she
made the documentary 'Ettore Sottsass e Poltronova', presented together with Philippe Daverio for the Ettore Sottsass exhibition 'Non Capisco Perche'
(Trieste 2008). She also curated the 'Superarchitettura Reloaded' exhibition at the Festival Internazionale Design Parade 2008 (Villa Noailles, France).