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Enzo Mari

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Enzo Mari
Enzo Mari in his studio in Milan, 1974
Born(1932-04-27)27 April 1932
Novara, Kingdom of Italy
Died19 October 2020(2020-10-19) (aged 88)
Milan, Italy
Spouse
​
(m. 1978)​
Websiteenzomari.com

Enzo Mari (27 April 1932[1][2] – 19 October 2020) was an Italian modernist artist and furniture designer who is known to have influenced many generations of industrial designers.[3][4]

Early life and education

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Mari was born in Novara, Italy, and he studied at the Brera Academy in Milan, Italy from 1952 to 1956.[5]

Career

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16 animali puzzle for Danese (1957)
Timor perpetual calendar for Danese (1967)
Sumatra paper tray for Danese (1976)

He drew inspiration from the idealism of the Arts and Crafts movement and his political views as a communist.[6]

From 1956 onward, he specialized in industrial design and created a portfolio of more than 2,000 works.[5] In the 1960s, he published a series of books with his then-wife Iela Mari, including "The Apple and the Butterfly," a book of illustrations depicting the story of a caterpillar and an apple, without any text.[7]

In the 1970s as a professor at The Humanitarian Society, he founded the Nuova Tendenza art movement in Milan.[8] Also in that decade, he designed the Sof Sof chair[9] and the "Box" chair.[10] 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.[11][12] In the 1980s, he designed the modernist Tonietta chair.[13]

Mari also taught at University of Parma, the Accademia Carrara, and the Milan Polytechnic.[8]

Multiple works by Mari have been on display at the Museum of Modern Art.[14] He had retrospective shows in Turin,[15] 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 with Francesca Giacomelli.[16]

He donated the archive of his designs to the city of Milan on the condition that it may not be displayed for 40 years.[5]

Personal life

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Mari married children's book illustrator Iela Mari in 1955; they had two children.[17][4]

He married art critic, theoretician and performance artist Lea Vergine, in 1978.[18][4] They had known each other since the 1960s.[19] He died from COVID-19 on 19 October 2020, at the age of 88, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.[20] Lea Vergine died a day later, also from COVID-19.[21]

Publications

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  • "autoprogettazione?", 1974

Awards and recognition

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  • 1967 Compasso d'Oro Award for individual research in design [22]
  • 1979 Compasso d'Oro Award for the "Delfina" chair [22]
  • 1987 Compasso d'Oro Award for the "Tonietta" chair [22]
  • 2001 Compasso d'Oro Award for the "Legato" table [22]
  • 2000 Honorary Royal Designer for Industry ("HonRDI" only 200 people may hold this title at any time.)[23]
  • 2002 Honorary Degree in Industrial Design, Politecnico di Milano, Faculty of Architecture[24]
  • 2011 Compasso d'Oro Career Award[25]

Selected quotes

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  • "Form is everything."[6]
  • "Design is dead."[6]
  • "I want to create models for a different society."[26]
  • "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."[27]

References

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  1. ^ Moliterno, Gino (11 September 2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Italian Culture. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-75877-7.
  2. ^ "ENZO MARI". Avantgarde Museum.
  3. ^ Green, Penelope, Enzo Mari, Industrial Designer Who Kept Things Simple, Dies at 88, The New York Times, October 30, 2020
  4. ^ a b c Basciano, Oliver (1 November 2020). "Enzo Mari obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  5. ^ a b c "enzo mari has died aged 88". Design Boom. 19 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  6. ^ a b c Rawsthorn, Alice (2 October 2008). "Enzo Mari: A rebel with an obsession for form". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  7. ^ "The Apple and the Butterfly". Present & Correct. Archived from the original on 29 March 2009.
  8. ^ a b "Enzo Mari". Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  9. ^ "Sof Sof Chair". MoMA Catalog. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  10. ^ ""Che fare" by Enzo Mari and Gabriele Pezzini". Design Addcit. Archived from the original on 4 July 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  11. ^ "Enzo Mari's Autoprogettazione". Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
  12. ^ Magazine, Wallpaper* (7 October 2009). "Enzo Mari's Autoprogettazione Revisited, London". Wallpaper*. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  13. ^ "MoMA: Tonietta Chair". MoMA Catalog. MoMA. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  14. ^ "Works on Display: Enzo Mari". NYMOMA Catalog. NYMOMA. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  15. ^ "Enzo Mari: A view on the immensity". Ego Design. Archived from the original on 18 May 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  16. ^ "Enzo Mari curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Francesca Giacomelli | Triennale Milano". www.triennale.org (in Italian). Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  17. ^ "Iela Mari, il nostro saluto". 3 February 2014. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  18. ^ Green, Penelope (3 November 2020). "Enzo Mari, Industrial Designer Who Kept Things Simple, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  19. ^ Hilburg, Jonathan (20 October 2020). "Italian design legend Enzo Mari dies, a day before his wife, Lea Vergine". The Architect’s Newspaper. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  20. ^ Morto Enzo Mari, icona del design italiano e mondiale (in Italian)
  21. ^ Morta Lea Vergine, la critica d'arte scompare il giorno dopo suo marito Enzo Mari: era ricoverata con lui in ospedale (in Italian)
  22. ^ a b c d "Enzo Mari e il compasso d'oro". Floor Nature (in Italian). 21 June 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  23. ^ "Current Honorary Royal Designers". May 2008. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  24. ^ "Addio a Enzo Mari, maestro del design". Adnkronos (in Italian). Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  25. ^ "ADI - Associazione per il Disegno Industriale". www.adi-design.org. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  26. ^ "ENZO MARI Edition | CUCULA".
  27. ^ "An Important Failure". Disegno Journal. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
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