Guzzini: Infinite Italian Design
Author: Moreno Gentili
Format: Hardback, 240mm x 280mm, 1470g, 200 pages
Published: Skira, Italy, 2012
100 years of history of one of the most innovative companies promoting Italian design. This book describes the development of the Guzzini's company: 100 years of history set out in fascinating details, with a succession of protagonists of Italian and international culture such as Gillo Dorfles, Oscar Farinetti, Aldo Bonomi, Robin Levien, Angeletti Ruzza, Karim Rashid, and many other leading designers. The seed of innovation was already present in Fratelli Guzzini from the year of the company's birth in 1912. This seed of innovation was made fertile by Enrico Guzzini, a man who drew upon his experiences to set about re-launching an ancient craft, producing elegant ox horn items. From that time on, the company's history has been characterized by a series of decisively innovatory milestones. With the introduction of moulded acrylics at the beginning of the 1960s, the company showed a more open approach to business by importing the creative concepts of some of the best minds in design. This was followed by the development of the bicolour project in the 1980s, then the leap to gas-assisted injection in the 1990s, to current research on new plastic materials, usefully combining them with futuristic acrylics or more classical traditional materials, such as porcelain, glass, steel and wood, and with the work of the most talented contemporary designers. The result is a vast catalogue of all types of items beautifully designed but easy to use, familiar, inexpensive, extremely practical, and recyclable.
An artist and concept designer, Moreno Gentili teaches at the Polytechnic University of Milan. He is author of Bally: Since 1851 (Skira, 2007).
Author: Moreno Gentili
Format: Hardback, 240mm x 280mm, 1470g, 200 pages
Published: Skira, Italy, 2012
100 years of history of one of the most innovative companies promoting Italian design. This book describes the development of the Guzzini's company: 100 years of history set out in fascinating details, with a succession of protagonists of Italian and international culture such as Gillo Dorfles, Oscar Farinetti, Aldo Bonomi, Robin Levien, Angeletti Ruzza, Karim Rashid, and many other leading designers. The seed of innovation was already present in Fratelli Guzzini from the year of the company's birth in 1912. This seed of innovation was made fertile by Enrico Guzzini, a man who drew upon his experiences to set about re-launching an ancient craft, producing elegant ox horn items. From that time on, the company's history has been characterized by a series of decisively innovatory milestones. With the introduction of moulded acrylics at the beginning of the 1960s, the company showed a more open approach to business by importing the creative concepts of some of the best minds in design. This was followed by the development of the bicolour project in the 1980s, then the leap to gas-assisted injection in the 1990s, to current research on new plastic materials, usefully combining them with futuristic acrylics or more classical traditional materials, such as porcelain, glass, steel and wood, and with the work of the most talented contemporary designers. The result is a vast catalogue of all types of items beautifully designed but easy to use, familiar, inexpensive, extremely practical, and recyclable.
An artist and concept designer, Moreno Gentili teaches at the Polytechnic University of Milan. He is author of Bally: Since 1851 (Skira, 2007).