Crafting Design in Italy ─ From Post-War to Postmodernism

Crafting design in Italy is the first book to examine the role that craft played in the history of post-war Italian design, one the most celebrated episodes in twentieth century design. Craft was vital to the development of design in Italy from 1945 to the 1980s, and yet as often as this story has been told, it is incomplete. Missing is the overlooked but multiple role that craft played - as a method of manufacture, set of disciplines and traditions, materials and ideas.

This book examines the multiple ways that craft shaped Italian design from 1945 to 1981. It is organised in four chapters, each of which focus the different ways that Italy's architects engaged with craft in the context of the bigger socio-economic, cultural and political changes of the period, from the imperatives of post-war reconstruction to the explosion in luxury in the economic 'miracle' of the 1960s, to the experimentation of Radical Design and the postmodern adventures of Studio Alchimia and Memphis. It uses a series of case studies on design areas including product, furniture, fashion, glass and ceramics to bring to light previously unknown makers and objects as well as re-examine design 'icons' such as Gio Ponti's Superleggera chair and Ettore Sottsass's Carlton bookcase. This project uses the concept of craft to offer a radical re-reading of post-war Italian design. It also sets out to provide a paradigm for using craft-based approaches and analysing design and craft's relationship in other cultures and contexts.

Catharine Rossi is Senior Lecturer in Design History at Kingston University London