Made in Italy: Rethinking a Century of Italian Design - Paperback

by Grace Lees-Maffei (Editor), Kjetil Fallan (Editor)

Goods made or designed in Italy enjoy a profile which far outstrips the country's modest manufacturing output. Italy's glorious design heritage and reputation for style and innovation has 'added value' to products made in Italy. Since 1945, Italian design has commanded an increasing amount of attention from design journalists, critics and consumers. But is Italian design a victim of its own celebrity? Made in Italy brings together leading design historians to explore this question, discussing both the history and significance of design from Italy and its international influence. Addressing a wide range of Italian design fields, including car design, graphic design, industrial and interior design and ceramics, well-known designers such as Alberto Rosselli and Ettore Sottsass, Jr. and iconic brands such as Olivetti, Vespa and Alessi, the book explores the historical, cultural and social influences that shaped Italian design, and how these iconic designs have contributed to the modern canon of Italian-inspired goods.

Author Biography

Grace Lees-Maffei is reader in Design History and TVAD Research Group co-ordinator at the University of Hertfordshire and managing editor of the Journal of Design History. She is the editor of Writing Design: Words and Objects (Bloomsbury Academic, 2011) and Iconic Designs: 50 Stories about 50 Things (Bloomsbury Academic, 2014), and co-editor of The Design History Reader (Bloomsbury Academic, 2010). She is also author of Design at Home (2013).

Kjetil Fallan is associate professor of Design History at the University of Oslo. He is the author of Design History: Understanding Theory and Method (Bloomsbury Academic, 2010) and the editor of Scandinavian Design: Alternative Histories (Bloomsbury Academic, 2012) and is also an editor of the Journal of Design History.