Italian Bel Design

イタリアン・ベル・デザイン / 1950s–1970s / Style / Postwar Industrial Design

The golden age of industrial products made by postwar Italian industry and its designers, who added feeling and sculptural presence to functionalism. Castiglioni's lamps and Olivetti's machines exported the product as culture.

Italian Bel Design — Sottsass, Olivetti Valentine (CC BY-SA 4.0) · © Maksym Kozlenko — Sottsass, Olivetti Valentine (CC BY-SA 4.0) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Maksym Kozlenko

Italian Bel Design — Gio Ponti, Superleggera, Cassina 1957 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0 · © Sailko — Gio Ponti, Superleggera, Cassina 1957 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0 · CC BY 3.0 · © Sailko

At a glance

Visual cues

Sculptural products
Bold color and wit
Alliances of firms and designers
Material experiment

Best used for

Presenting a lamp or small appliance as sculpture without losing its function
Putting one bold invention into a mass produced object to make it memorable

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Dictionary entry

Type: One logo only, set small and following the curve of the body
Composition: Concentrate the mechanism at one point and free the remaining silhouette
Material: Mix molded plastic, aluminium and marble, adding one high chroma color
Caution: When odd shapes and primary colors come first, the object grows awkward to hold and easy to break, reading as a prank rather than wit.
Further study: Achille Castiglioni / Ettore Sottsass / the Compasso d'Oro

Related entries

Memphis (メンフィス)Shared effects: Play / Exhilaration.Compare Italian Bel Design and Memphis
Space Age Design (スペースエイジ・デザイン)Same Postwar Industrial Design lineage.Compare Italian Bel Design and Space Age Design

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Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/italian-bel-design
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