The students of Istituto Marangoni reinterpret Memphis, the movement that revolutionized the design world in the Eighties
On the occasion of Milano Design City, Istituto Marangoni’s School of Design presents “Memphis. The Colour of Objects.” This exhibition, open to the public, is dedicated to the important cultural phenomenon created in the ’80s by Ettore Sottsass and a group of young architects, including Michele De Lucchi, Alessandro Mendini, Andrea Branzi, that revolutionized the idea of design and celebrates its fortieth anniversary this year.
Istituto Marangoni wanted its third-year Visual Design students and the Surface & Textile Design and Product & Furniture Design Master attendees to work on the ideas of this “postmodern” Movement to create new design projects.
A selection of these creative ideas makes up the core of the exhibition, which is divided into four parts: three are dedicated to the School Departments (Product, Visual and Interior Design), each presenting the best students’ projects, through images and 3D models, plus a final historical section, featuring infographics and a selection of historic Memphis items, closed by the iconic Carlton bookshelf, a worldwide-recognized symbol of the whole production of this revolutionary cultural movement.
Visual Design students worked on the restyling of Studio Memphis’ visual identity, including the brand’s three main collections: Memphis Milano, Meta Memphis and Post Design. The students of the Surface & Textile Design Master created for the brand a series of new decorative patterns for surfaces, textiles and coverings, reinterpreting typical Memphis patterns, symbols and visual elements.
This complex work engaged the school’s talents throughout the academic year, and stimulated them also with seminars and talks such as “Story Makers”, organized last November at Istituto Marangoni, whose guests were Denis Santachiara and Alessandro Guerriero, two authoritative and visionary voices in the history of Italian design as well as protagonists of that special cultural period.
The exhibition, hosted on the first floor of the Via Cerva school, is curated by Gustavo Martini, born in Rio de Janeiro, awarded as “Next Generation Designer of The Year 2017” by Wallpaper * and Officine Panerai, and part of the Prisma Project, a group of former School of Design students, involved in important projects and school initiatives. Also Yuetong Shi belongs to the same team; she is a former student at Istituto Marangoni from China, in charge of the entire graphic project for the exhibition.
“MEMPHIS. THE COLOUR OF OBJECTS”
Istituto Marangoni Milano Design Via Cerva, 24
Texts by Stefano Caggiano – Program Leader of Product Design
Exhibition design: Gustavo Martini
Graphic design: Yuetong Shi
From 28 September to 10 October 2020
from 9 am to 7 pm
