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About ten kilometres northwest of central Florence, Italy, and about four kilometres east of the giant I Gigli mall, via the nerve-wracking A1 autostrada, in the bustling burb of Calenzano, on the second floor of the two-storey, ordinary-looking Centro Arte Design, the Museo del Design Industriale exhibits an extraordinary collection of contemporary Italian furniture. Handily located across the street from the University of Florence Industrial Design department, the museum offers ample free parking.
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In 2005 the Fondazione Anna Querci per il Design, the Industrial Design department of the University of Florence and the city of Calenzano collaborated to present "Italian Beauty: 100 esemplari al top," an exhibition of Italian industrial design from 1960 to the present. The exhibition represented 55 manufacturers, many who donated furniture to the Fondazione, including Alias, Artemide, B&B Italia, Bonacina Pierantonio, Busnelli, Campeggi, Castelli, Driade, Emu, Fiam Italia, Giovannetti, Heron Parigi, Lago, Lapalma, Magis, Techno and Zonatta.
In May 2006, with the establishment of the Museo del Design Industrial at the Centro Arte Design in Calenzano, approximately 100 pieces from this temporary exhibit found a permanent home. Displayed in three rooms, about half the collection comprises furniture and the balance a wide range of other examples of Italian industrial design (light fixtures, glassware, ceramics, electronics, etc.).
For those fluent in Italian this video courtesy of Florence TV provides images of the official opening of the museum and an interview with Anna Querci, president of the foundation that bears her name.
(left) Dezza armchair, Giò Ponti, 1965.
(right) Blow chair, De Pas, D'Urbino, Lomazzi, Scolari, 1967.
The Museo del Design Industrial continues to expand its collection, recently adding Giò Ponti's Leggera dining chair (1956) and a table and chair set by Luciano Grassi and Sergio Conti (1959) to the original exhibition's legacy of about 50 items of furniture. With too many designers and manufacturers to list from the original exhibition, a representative sample from the 1960s includes Gaetano Pesce (B&B Italia), Giò Ponti (Poltrona Frau), Vico Magistretti (Artemide); from the 1970s Joe Columbo (Flexform), Paolo Paragi (Heron Paragi), Guido M. Rosati (Giovannetti); from the 1980s Alessandro Mendini (Driade); from the 1990s Franco Bizzozzero (Bonacina Pierantonio), Antonia Astori (Driade); from this century Alberto Meda (Alias), Denis Santachiara (Campeggi), Fabio Bortolani (Lapalma), Konstantin Cric (Magis), Roberto Monsani (Acerbis).
(left) UP 5 Donna chair, Gaetano Pesce, 1969.
(right) Ghost armchair, Cini Boeri and Tomu Katalangi, 1987.
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