Enzo Mari
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Enzo Mari (27 April 1932 – 19 October 2020) was an
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
artist and furniture designer who is known to have influenced many generations of industrial designers.


Early life and education

Mari was born in
Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...
, Italy, and he studied at the
Brera Academy The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan's main public mu ...
in
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
, Italy from 1952 to 1956.


Career

He drew inspiration from the idealism of the
Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...
and his political views as a
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
. From 1956 onward, he specialized in industrial design and created a portfolio of more than 2,000 works. In the 1960s, he published a series of books with his then-wife
Iela Mari Iela Mari, born as Gabriela Ferrario (March 1931 – 29 January 2014), was an Italian, Milan-based illustrator and author of wordless children's books driven by a storyline consisting of only graphics, sometimes called "silent books." Life and w ...
, including "The Apple and the Butterfly," a book of illustrations depicting the story of a caterpillar and an apple, without any text. In the 1970s as a professor at
The Humanitarian Society The Humanitarian Society () is a Philanthropy, philanthropic institution founded in Milan in 1893 by a bequest made by . History The Humanitarian Society is one of the longest standing institutions in Milan. It was founded thanks to the determin ...
, he founded the Nuova Tendenza art movement in Milan. Also in that decade, he designed the Sof Sof chair and the "Box" chair. In 1974, in reaction to the mass production of furniture, Enzo Mari created a book entitled, ''Autoprogettazione'', which deals with the DIY construction of furniture and provides plans and instructions on how to create 19 items of furniture from ubiquitous materials. In the 1980s, he designed the modernist Tonietta chair. Mari also taught at
University of Parma The University of Parma () is a public university located in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Organized into nine departments, it is one of the oldest universities in the world. As of 2016, it had approximately 26,000 students. History During the ...
, the
Accademia Carrara The Accademia Carrara, (), officially Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti di Bergamo, is an art gallery and an academy of fine arts in Bergamo, in Lombardy in northern Italy. The art gallery was established in about 1780 by , a Bergamasco collecto ...
, and the Milan Polytechnic. Multiple works by Mari have been on display at the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
. He had retrospective shows in
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
, and an important presentation of his work in the "Adhocracy" show, during the first Istanbul Design Biennial. In addition, the Triennale, Milan is exhibiting a tribute to Mari, curated by
Hans Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and art historian. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...
with Francesca Giacomelli. He donated the archive of his designs to the city of Milan on the condition that it may not be displayed for 40 years.


Personal life

Mari married children's book illustrator Iela Mari in 1955; they had two children. He married art critic, theoretician and performance artist Lea Vergine, in 1978. They had known each other since the 1960s. He died from
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
on 19 October 2020, at the age of 88, during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Italy The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy was part of the COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2 ...
. Lea Vergine died a day later, also from COVID-19.


Publications

* "autoprogettazione?", 1974


Awards and recognition

* 1967
Compasso d'Oro The Compasso d'Oro (; ) is an industrial design award originated in Italy in 1954. Initially sponsored by the La Rinascente, a Milanese department store, the award has been organised and managed by the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI ...
Award for individual research in design * 1979 Compasso d'Oro Award for the "Delfina" chair * 1987 Compasso d'Oro Award for the "Tonietta" chair * 2001 Compasso d'Oro Award for the "Legato" table * 2000 Honorary
Royal Designer for Industry Royal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustained ...
("HonRDI" only 200 people may hold this title at any time.) * 2002 Honorary Degree in Industrial Design, ''
Politecnico di Milano The Polytechnic University of Milan (, abbreviated as PoliMi) is a university in Milan, Italy. It is the largest technical university in the country, with about 40,000 enrolled students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate, and higher ...
'', Faculty of Architecture * 2011 Compasso d'Oro Career Award


Selected quotes

* "Form is everything." * "Design is dead." * "I want to create models for a different society." * "When I design an object and people say: 'Oh, well done!', I unfailingly ask myself, Where did I go wrong?... If everybody likes it, it means I have confirmed the existing reality and this is precisely what I don’t want."


References


External links

*
Notes on design
Enzo Mari by
Jasper Morrison Jasper Morrison (born 1959) is an English product and furniture designer. He is known for the refinement and apparent simplicity of his designs. In a rare interview with the designer, he is quoted as saying: "Objects should never shout." ...
'' ( ''Domus'' magazine, 2020) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mari, Enzo Italian furniture designers Compasso d'Oro Award recipients 20th-century Italian male artists Italian industrial designers 1932 births 2020 deaths 21st-century Italian male artists Italian communists People from Novara Brera Academy alumni 20th-century Italian male writers 21st-century Italian male writers Academic staff of the University of Parma Academic staff of the Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti di Bergamo Academic staff of the Polytechnic University of Milan Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Lombardy