Glass Ashtray by Enzo Mari for Danese, 1980s

Artist-designer Enzo Mari was born in Novara, Italy in 1932. He studied art and literature at the Accademia di Brera in Milan, but, self-taught as a designer, began working in industrial design during the 1950s. He opened his own design studio in Milan in 1952, from where he has continued to work for over sixty years. Mari has long been interested in the theoretical role of the designer and objects in everyday life, as well as the broader psychology of visual perception; to that end, he has experimented in a variety of visual arts, even founding the Nuova Tendenza movement in Milan in 1963. A respected theorist and teacher, he taught at the Società Umanitaria in Milan between 1963 and 1966, since which time he has continued to teach both in Italy and abroad.

Mari’s work is driven by function and respect for materials. It ranges from furniture, ceramics , and , to books, games, and beyond. Notable works include, among others, 16 Animals (1957), a puzzle featuring carved wooden animal shapes that combine to form a rectangle (this was his first design for the Italian manufacturer Danese); Vase Model 3087 (1969), a double conical vase that functions whether standing on its top or bottom; the Sumatra filing system (1976); and Delfina (1974), a chair featuring a seat and back made of zippered sailcloth. Clients include Le Creuset, Artemide, Magis, Alessi, Zanotta, Driade, Muji, and Japanese furniture atelier Hida Sangyo. His work is included in the permanent collections of numerous respected institutions, with the Museum of Modern Art alone counting nearly thirty Mari designs.

Mari lives and works in Italy.

Italian manufacturer Danese has been a major player in Italian design since the late 1950s, and was instrumental in the promotion of the Italian design identity throughout the 1960s and ‘70s. Danese’s most famous products were the fruit of collaborations with design icons Bruno Munari and Enzo Mari.  

In 1955, Italian entrepreneur Bruno Danese established DEM (Danese e Meneguzzo) with business partner Franco Meneguzzo. The company did not last, and in 1957 Bruno Danese co-founded his eponymous company with Jacqueline Vodoz, although he continued to collaborate with Meneguzzo until 1961. Aiming to marry art with design, the Danese showroom on the Piazza San Fedele in Milan was an art gallery and exhibition space as much as it was a store.

Danese met two important designers that would shape the future of his company, namely Bruno Munari (1907-1998) in 1958 and subsequently Enzo Mari (b. 1932). Designing a range of household objects and tableware specifically created for everyday use, Munari and Mari were key to the brand’s successful transition from hand-crafted goods to mass produced items made using streamlined production methods. The innovative products thought up by the enterprising trio were produced by the company until 1962. Made from a wide range of materials including aluminum, brass, cardboard, ceramics, plastic, steel, and wood, the products they created were both avant-garde and everyday—and soon became icons of modernist design.

Notable Danese products include, 16 Animals (Mari, 1957), a wooden puzzle featuring animal shapes that combine to form a rectangle; Cubo Ashtray (Munari, 1957); the multi-purpose Putrella Tray (Mari, 1958); Formosa Calendar (Mari, 1963); and the Falkland Pendant Light (Munari, 1964), which has become a classic of 20th-century design and can be found in museum collections worldwide. Achille Castiglioni, Arik Levy, Ross Lovegrove, Angelo Mangiarotti, Alberto Meda, and Atelier Oi are a number of important designers to have worked with Danese since its was established.

In 1991, Danese was bought out by Cassina-Alias which coincided with a period of declining sales and stagnant production.  In 1999, Italian architect-designer Carlotta de Bevilacqua (b. 1957) became the sole administrator and turned Danese’s fortune around. The brand reasserted its importance in the Italian design industry—relauching with a new emphasis on environmentally friendly design.