6 ITALIENSKE GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Franco Bassi, Giulio Confalonieri, Silvio Coppola,
Franco Grignani, Bruno Munari, Pino Tovaglia
Olivetti A/S
Olivetti A/S: 6 ITALIENSKE GRAPHIC DESIGNERS [Franco Bassi, Giulio Confalonieri, Silvio Coppola, Franco Grignani, Bruno Munari, Pino Tovaglia]. København: Olivetti A/S, 1971. First edition. Square 8vo. Text in Danish. Original wrappers with tissue wrappers. 18 pp. Die-cut pages. Elaborate graphic design throughout. Minor edgewear to wrappers. A fine, fresh copy.
8.25 x 8.25 softcover folio with 18 pages profiling Franco Bassi, Giulio Confalonieri, Silvio Coppola, Franco Grignani, Bruno Munari, Pino Tovaglia. Printed in Italy by Dante Bertieri and Guiseppe Enoch Graveringer supervised by James Altimani for Olivetti A/S, 1971.
Franco Bassi ( b. 1920 ) is a Italian graphic designer who studied at Accademia di Brera in Milan. Since 1949 he has worked as a graphic designer at Olivetti , working with Walter Ballmer in branding, posters and publishing.
Giulio Confalonieri (1926 - 2008 ) was an Italian graphic designer and one of the leading exponents of the Swiss School in Italy. After completing his studies in Switzerland , Germany, Italy and India, he designed various posters for Pirelli and the Triennale in Milan. He also worked, as a consultant to the publishing house Lerici and, as art director for the magazine FMR, Art Esquire, Towns, Graphics, and Imago PM.
Silvio Coppola (1920 - 1985) began his design career in 1960, making a name for himself with innovative designs for motor vehicle bodywork made of fibreglass. He has collaborated with companies that manufacture computers and private and public industrial vehicles, executing a huge body of work in visual communication and industrial design.
Franco Grignani (1908 - 1999 ) was an Italian designer, painter and architect. He was a member of the AGI and his studies of the processes of perception are preserved in many museums, including MOMA in New York , the Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam , the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington in London and the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
Bruno Munari (1907 – 1998) was an Italian artist, designer, and inventor who contributed fundamentals to many fields of visual arts (painting, sculpture, film, industrial design, graphic design) in modernism, futurism, and concrete art, and in non visual arts (literature, poetry) with his research on games, didactic method, movement, tactile learning, kinesthetic learning, and creativity. He was a true Bad Ass.
Pino Tovaglia ( 1923 – 1977 ) was an Italian graphic designer and one of the leading exponents of the Swiss School in Italy. In 1946 Tovaglia taught graphic design at the Art School of the Castle of Milan. Among the most famous works are the brands for Alfa Romeo , Octagon and Nebbiolo. In 1954 he won the National Award of publicity thanks to a series of announcements made by Finmeccanica . In 1956 he founded together with CNPT Giulio Confalonieri , Ilio Negri and Michael Provincials . In 1958 he won the Palme d'Or for advertising. In 1972 he created the new Alfa Romeo logo.
Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. The company was founded as a typewriter manufacturer by Camillo Olivetti in 1908 in Ivrea, Italy. The firm was mainly developed by his son Adriano Olivetti.
Olivetti was famous for the attention it gave to design: "[A] preoccupation with design developed into a comprehensive corporate philosophy, which embraced everything from the shape of a space bar to the color scheme for an advertising poster." — Jonathan Martin, International Directory of Company Histories
In 1952, the Museum of Modern Art held an exhibit titled "Olivetti: Design in Industry"; today, many Olivetti products are still part of the museum's permanent collection. Another major show, mounted by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1969, toured five other cities. Olivetti was also renowned for the caliber of the architects it engaged to design its factories and offices, including Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, Gae Aulenti, Egon Eiermann, Figini-Pollini, Ignazio Gardella, BBPR, and many others.
From the 1940s to the 1960s, Olivetti industrial design was led by Marcello Nizzoli, responsible for the Lexicon 80 (1948) and the portable Lettera 22 (1950). Later, Mario Bellini and Ettore Sottsass directed design.
Olivetti paid attention to more than the importance of product design; graphic and architectural design were also considered pivotal to the company. Giovanni Pintori was hired by Adriano Olivetti in 1936 to work in the publicity department. Pintori was the creator of the Olivetti logo and many promotional posters used to advertise the company and its products. — Wikipedia