After the hangover of the Salone del Mobile and the Milanese Design Week, this year with dizzying numbers regarding the influx of visitors, it’s nice go back to the library (and a bit also at the cinema) with a volume that – through the sets and sketches of the brutalist designer Ken Adam – takes us straight to the unique atmosphere of 1960s spy films.
Also not to be missed is the essay just published on that great communications genius that he was Armando Testa and which, together with the books dedicated to Alvar Aalto it’s at Isamu Noguchitakes us to the heart of the twentieth century.
To finally arrive at the imperfections of Inga Sampé and the reflections of the great Italo Rota.
1. The imperfect house of Inga Sampé, edited by Massimo Sanmicheli (Electa, 35 euros)
For Inga Sempéindustrial designer born in Paris and creator of serial collections for companies such as Luceplan, Cappellini, Edra, Baccarat or Ligne Roset, the first duty of a designer is above all to “contribute to the evolution of society with conscious attitudes that respect man and the environment through durable objects”.
This is why Inga Sampé does not design display pieces but products for mass production, armchairs, lamps or towel rails, designed to last over timealso thanks to a contemporary and universal language.
The opportunity to better understand his particular design poetics comes today from an exhibition and the freshly printed book The imperfect housea bit’ wise and a little’ catalog of the exhibition just inaugurated at Milan Triennial (open to the public until 15 September 2024). Enriched with drawings, photographs and interviews, a volume that very well describes Inga Sempé’s philosophy and her desire to develop new forms and functions against all sorts of laziness.
Who will like it To those interested in learning more about the super current theme of taking inspiration from the small gestures of “everyday life”. Perhaps accompanied by critical texts by Giampiero Bosoni, Megan Dinius de Kalbermatten, Laura Maggi, Massimo Orsini, Eugenio Perazza, Marco Sammicheli, Inga Sempé, Patrizia Vicenzi and Pilar Viladas.
