In 1974 the artist and designer Enzo Mari, presented this project as an open manual with nineteen designs using rough boards, to self-made basic furniture: from tables and chairs, to wardrobe and beds. The simple design of these easy-to-assemble furniture usually required nothing more than a hammer and nails. With Autoprogettazione, Enzo Mari open-sourced the furnishing industry with a critical eye. For you to use in this exhibition, we built some units of the 1123 xP chair.
author
Enzo Mari (born 1932) is a noted Italian modernist artist and furniture designer. Studied at the Brera Academy in Milan, Italy from 1952 to 1956. In the 1960s, published a series of books, including “The Apple and the Butterfly,” a wordless book of paintings depicting the story of a caterpillar and an apple. He has taught at University of Parma (Parma), the Accademia Carrara (Carrara), Milan Polytechnic and ISIA (Florence), the Hochschule der Künste (Berlin), and the “Hochschule für angewandte Kunst” in Vienna.
In the 1970s, he founded the Nuova Tendenza art movement as a professor at Società Umanitaria, also in Milan. Also in that decade, he designed the Sof Sof chair and the “Box” chair. In 1974, Enzo Mari made the book Autoprogettazione, which deals around the DIY construction of furniture, and has been part of all the Ahocracy exhibitions, and now, some of his designs are being used for the workshop space at the OCC.
country
Italy
year
1974