The first comprehensive monograph on Mario Bellini, one of Italy's most versatile and influential designers. A key figure in the emergence of Italy as an important centre fore design in the 1960's, Mario Bellini is renowned for his elegant, dramatic and often poetic designs for, among others, Olivetti, Cassina, B&B Italia, Vitra and Artemide. He was the subject of a one man retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in 1987, the recipient of eight prestigious Compasso d'Oro industrial design awards, the Editor–in–Chief of the influential architecture and design magazine Domus (1986–91) and continues to produce architecture and design for clients and locations all over the world. Features: – Richly illustrated with over 500 images including sketches and photographs from Mario Bellini's archive, opened publicly for the first time. – A complete catalogue of Bellini's design work, thematically presented, from calculators, typewriters, office and banking machines, to chairs, tables, sofas, and lighting. Features a series of essays, including an interview with Mario Bellini, covering the various aspects of his career and design processes.

"During the last decade, the emergence of Italy as the dominant force in design has had a profound influence in Europe and the Americas. The phenomenon is important not only because of the high quality and diversity of the forms produced, but also because it has generated a lively debate on the sociocultural implications of product design, raising questions of vital concern to designers throughout the world. For many designers, the aesthetic quality of individual objects intended for private consumption have become irrelevant in the face of such pressing problems as poverty, urban decay, and the pollution of the environment now encountered in all industrialized countries. Consequently, they are increasingly shifting he focus of their attention from the well-designed object to man's total environment, seeing the designer's function as one that can mold patterns of behavior by creating new settings for freer, more adaptable lifestyles. Some, however, despairing of effecting social change through design, regard their task as essentially a political one. They therefore abstain from the physical designing of either objects or environments and channel their energies into the staging of events and the issuing of polemical statements. Their approach thus parallels that of many artists in other mediums who view their art in primarily conceptual terms. This publication, issued in conjunction with a major exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, is the first to deal comprehensively with these challenging developments. Over 150 objects of Italian design of the past ten years have been selected for the show and are all reproduced in color and black-and-white, as are the dozen environments by well-known Italian designers specially commissioned for the occasion, and the two awarded prizes in a concurrent competition for young designers under thirty-five sponsored by the Museum. Each environment is accompanied by a statement in which the individual or group responsible for the project clarifies his position regarding the present and future role of design. In addition to essays by Emilio Ambasz, Curator of Design at the Museum of Modern Art and director of the exhibition, the book contains contributions by a number of outstanding Italian critics and art historians. Together, these comprise the first historical survey of contemporary Italian design and a critical analysis of its intellectual and formal positions within the context of international design today." -- Publisher's description

This monograph documents buildings, projects and exhibition designs of Mario Bellini of the last decade. In 1987 Bellini was honored with a design exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art. His architectural works include the International Congress and Exhibition Center in Cernobbio, the Tokyo Design Center, a Club complex in Kobuchizawa, the extension to the Portello Sud area at the Milan Trade Fair and many other works in Japan, Italy, Dubai and Germany. Among his recent exhibition designs is "The Renaissance from Brunelleschi to Michelangelo", presenting architectural models and shown in Venice, Paris and Berlin.