Mid-Century Italian Superonda Sofa by Archizoom Associati for Poltronova, 1967

Italian radical design collective Archizoom Associati was founded in Florence in 1966. Adopting an attitude of design vigilantism, their work critiqued modernism and its inherent propensity to promote consumerist, style-driven societies.

Archizoom’s founding members—Andrea Branzi (b. 1938), Gilberto Corretti (b. 1941), Paolo Deganello (b. 1940), and Massimo Morozzi (1941-2014), with designers Dario and Lucia Bartolini joining in 1968—met while studying at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Florence; these years in Italy (and beyond) were marked by an economic downturn, housing shortages, and governmental fumbling.

According to legend, the young architects of Florence were stirred to action by the course Spazio di coinvolgimento (Space of Involvement), taught by Leonardo Savioli, which criticized the psychological, social, and spiritual alienation endemic in the design of modern cities. Other radical, anti-design groups were spawned from Savioli’s class as well, including 9999, Superstudio, UFO, and Zziggurat. And all of these Italian groups also found inspiration in the work of neofuturist British architectural collective Archigram, as well as international representations of Pop Art.

Archizoom initially came to prominence through a pair of anti-consumerist exhibitions entitled Superarchitettura, organized in collaboration with Superstudio, first in Pistoia in 1966 and again in Modena in 1967. The following year, Archizoom participated the iconoclastic exhibition Centro di Cospirazione Eclettica at Milan’s Triennale and designed a series of theoretically driven gazebos that were published in Ettore Sottsass’s Pianeta Fresco magazine.

Archizoom’s most enduring and influential contribution to the anti-design movement was their 1969 No Stop City, an ironic urban plan for an artificially lit, air-conditioned, infinite city that takes modernist ideology to its logical extreme.

Archizoom was also invited to participate in the landmark 1972  Italy: The New Domestic Landscape at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. For this era-defining exhibition, the Archizoom installed Gray Room—a featureless environment animated only by a woman’s voice describing a beautiful, colorful house—alongside the work of other Italian visionaries like 9999, Gae Aulenti, Mario Bellini, Joe Colombo, Gruppo Strum, Ugo La Pietra, Gaetano Pesce, Alberto Rosselli, Ettore Sottsass, and Marco Zanuso with Richard Sapper.

Before they disbanded in 1974, and the individual members went on to pursue separate careers, Archizoom designed a range of iconic pieces for Poltronova: Superonda Sofa (1966), Safari Sofa (1966-7), Dream Bed (1967), and Mies Armchair (1969).

* Images courtesy of Centro Studi Poltronova, Graham Foundation, and Frac Centre

Italian furniture manufacturing company Poltronova was founded just north of Florence by Sergio Cammilli in 1957. Cammili had a background in art, and many believe it was the founder’s remarkable openness to bold creative expression that led the company to become one of the most daring in 20th-century Italian design.

Soon after launching, Cammilli was introduced to young designer Ettore Sottsass, who was at the time designing ceramics for Bitossi, also located in the region around Florence. By 1958, Sottsass was hired to be Poltronova’s artistic director.

In the early years, Poltronova concentrated on producing stylish, modernist furniture, often made in wood and sharing many features in common with midcentury designs from Scandinavia. Both Cammilli and Sottsass, however, had ambitions to do something more experimental.

In 1966, Cammilli and Sottsass visited the Superarchitettura exhibition, presented at Galleria Jolly 2 in Pistoia. This era-defining project was organized by Superstudio and Archizoom—two counterculture student groups from the University of Florence’s Faculty of Architect; it’s now seen to be a landmark moment in the development of Radical Design movement. Cammilli and Sottsass immediately changed the direction of the Poltronova, began working with young, iconoclastic designers, and helped to usher in the postmodern era in design.

Notably, Archizoom designed the company’s new factory in the 1960s and programed events at the headquarters, which included a poetry reading and meditation workshop led by poet Allen Ginsberg.

Poltronova produced a number of iconic designs, such as Mario Cerruli’s Mobili Nella Valle Series (1966); Archizoom’s Superonda Sofa (1967) and Mies Lounge  (1969); Superstudio’s Guerpe Lamp (1967); Ettore Sottsass’s Ultrafragola (1970); and De Pas D’Urbino & Lomazzi’s Joe Chair (1970), to name a few. Other major designers who have designed for Poltronova include Gae Aulenti, Angelo Mangiarotti, Giovanni Michelucci, Paolo Portoghesi, and Massimo Vignelli. Many Poltronova works were included in MoMA’s landmark 1972 exhibition Italy: The New Domestic Landscape.

After Cammilli and Sottsass left Poltronova in the 1970s, the company’s management changed hands a number of times, and the focus switched to producing more commercial collections. By the mid-1980s, Poltronova was struggling to survive. Thankfully Roberta Meloni, trained architect, stepped in to advocate for the preservation of the Poltronova archive. She acquired a managing interest in the 1990s, and in the new millennium she was named CEO. Today Poltronova’s legacy has been secured through Meloni’s company Centro Studi Poltronova, a multifaceted organization that manages archives, promotes study and public exhibitions, and produces iconic Poltronova designs on a made-to-order basis.

You can find our interview with Ms. Meloni here.

 * All images courtesy of Centro Studi Poltronova