Disegno & Design: Made (and Patented) in Italy

Monday 12 December 2011

Portable typewriter Valentina by Ettore Sottsass Jr. for Olivetti (1970). ADI Collezione Compasso d’Oro Foundation

Disegno e design is not the usual sort of show about Italian design. Instead, it talks about Italian creativity from a technical point of view. Hundreds of patents, drawings and trademarks, conserved at the Central State Archives and at the Italian Patent Office, are on show.

Ing. C. Olivetti e C. S.p.A., Ettore Sottsass, Ivrea (TO), 5 marzo 1970 - MICA, UIBM, Serie modelli, fasc. 138396

Set in the beautiful, historical space of Rotonda della Besana in the centre of Milan, the exhibition therefore tells us something different about the objects Made in Italy over the last century.
Moscardino by Giulio Iacchetti and Matteo Ragni for Pandora Design (2000)

Subtitled Italian Patents & Creativity, it is produced by Fondazione Valore Italia and the Ministry of Economic Development, with the support of the Department of Culture, Expo, Fashion and Design of the City of Milan.
Pandora Design

Although the show is filled with technical details and largely aimed at professionals, it's still full of curiosities for the design enthusiast to discover.

Eclisse lamp by Vico Magistretti for Artemide (1967)



Studio Artemide S.a.s., Milano, 14 giugno 1967 - MICA, UIBM, Serie modelli, fasc. 118195


Camparisoda bottle by Fortunato Depero for Campari Italia (2009)


Distillerie Pietro Campari fu Giuseppe & C., Milano, 18 luglio 1955 - ACS, MICA, UIBM, Serie modelli, fasc. 54878