ITALIAN DESIGNERS AT HOME

Every day we make use of objects that someone designed to make our liveseasier, more comfortable, more pleasant. Chairs, tables, lamps, householdappliances, beds, vases, drinking glasses, all things that form part ofour domestic routine. Many of the most eye-catching examples of theseobjects were created by Italian industrial designers. The internationalsuccess of Italian design is a unique phenomenon and design observers areno doubt familiar with iconic objects like Vico Magistretti's Eclisse lampfor Artemide, Riccardo Dalisi's Neapolitan coffee maker for Alessi orAlessandro Mendini's Poltrona Proust chair. But what happens when theyturn their creative energy toward their own homes? How do these "maestros"of design live? Do they make use of the things that they designed forothers? The authors of Italian Designers at Home (design journalistAlessandra Burigana, and architectural photographer Mario Ciampi) visitedthe homes of more than twenty renown Italian designers and asked themabout their lifestyles, preferences, and career trajectories. Theydiscovered the designers' routines, surprising passions, and originalstories. One of them has a specially made wardrobe for his collection ofshirts sewn by hand in London; another has a fear of emptiness and fillsup his personal space with collections of all sorts. Another one has abeautiful kitchen but orders macrobiotic meals delivered to his home. Oneeven sleeps in a small cubic structure, at the center of asixteenth-century living room, because it reminds him of the cozyatmosphere of a passenger-train sleeping compartment. Beautifullyillustrated with 280 color photographs, Italian Designers at Home offers aunprecedented look at more than twenty homes styled by the hand ofcelebrated Italian design professionals including: Aldo Cibic, AndreaBranzi, Denis Santachiara, Cleto Munari, Alessandro Mendini, Dino Gavina,Mario Bellini, Massimo Scolari, Cini Boeri, Enzo Mari, Fabio Novembre,Michele De Lucchi, Bob and Ornella Noorda, Vico Magistretti, RiccardoDalisi, Martino Gamper, and Ettore Sottsass.