Projects over the phone

Vico Magistretti loved to repeat: "I like concept design, the kind which is so clear you do not need to draw it. I have passed on plenty of my projects over the phone".

This quote from the architect has been chosen as the guiding thread linking together some unreleased archive materials and important pieces from the collection.

This is how the ideas underscoring some of the best-known objects designed by Vico Magistretti actually came to light: the bull’s-eye lantern for Eclisse (Artemide), the screw for the Vidun table (De Padova), the bicycle chain for the Maralunga sofa (Cassina), the fan for the Kuta lamp (Oluce), the blind for the Tadao bed (Flou), etc…
These ideas were initially given shape in the archive drawings and then fully revealed in the objects displayed in this exhibition, which best exemplify Magistretti’s design process.

Projects over the phone shows what is behind the concept design, a sort of backstage of the project and it tells the designer's ability to "look at usual things with unusual eyes, because everything is already there, it's just a little hidden”, as Vico liked to say.

Date

From 3.3.2011 to 7.4.2012

Colophon

Exhibition curated by
Simona Romano

Exhibit design by
Paolo Imperatori

Graphic design by
Davide Fornari