The origins of design, which date back to the 1920s and 1940s, coincide with the disappearance of the artist-craftsman who created irreproducible masterpieces. In the aftermath of the First World War, the great masters delegated the execution of their projects, which inevitably became models to be imitated and copied.
The design sector that benefited most from Italy’s extensive infrastructure was furniture: the generation of architects trained in the 1930s was employed by companies that wanted to establish themselves in the difficult post-war economy.
During Italy’s post-war reconstruction, consumer product design gave us some of the most extraordinary industrial artefacts ever created.
Design became an explicit element in marketing strategies that emphasised the identity between the “dolce vita” and, for example, the purchase of a chair. This elegant commercial offensive was supported by the Milan Triennale, the furniture fair and La Rinascente. Advertising and sales progressed hand in hand, leading the international jet set to embrace Italian design and recognise it as their own style from the mid-1950s onwards.
Today, designer furniture, particularly from the post-war period, is enjoying a period of consolidated appreciation, the result of a combination of experience, culture and style that is unique in the universal history of civilisation.
