An autobiographical account and uncompromising meditation on the meaning of design, in the voice of the man who represented the ethical and political conscience of the discipline in the second half of the 20th century.
Enzo Mari (1932-2020) was an Italian
designer,
graphic designer, illustrator and artist. His works range from design to painting, from graphics to gallery displays. He was both a teacher and a political activist. Today he is considered one of the greatest theorists of design.
His works have been featured at the Venice Biennale, the Milan Triennale, the Schloss Charlottenburg in Berlin, the MIC in Faenza, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome and the MoMA in New York. He was awarded the Golden Compass in 1986, a form of acknowledgement he had already been given in 1967 and 1979, as well as the International Design Center Prize in 1987 in New York. In 2008, the GAM in Turin dedicated a retrospective solo show to his work. Among his more recent writings, we might note:
Progetto e passione (2001),
La valigia senza manico (2004) and
25 modi per piantare un chiodo (2011).
