A short but extremely intense life, the one of italian designer Joe Colombo. Born in Milan in 1930, after a short stint in the field of art he devotes himself to industrial and furniture design, creating an overwhelming number of innovative objects. Thanks to his astonishing productivity, he had already achieved status as one of the era's most important designers when he died in 1971 at only 41 years of age. Milan’s Triennale together with the Vitra Design Museum have created an exhibition, Joe Colombo: Inventing the Future, the first formal presentation of the designer's entire body of work. It's an international travelling exhibition that will visit London and Berlin among other cities and I strongly suggest visiting it if it hits your city. The exhibition includes a generous number of previously unpublished drawings together with original objects, prototypes, films and reconstructed interiors. Colombo's most significant works are classics such as the futuristic armchair Elda, the lounge chair Tubo and the Universale chair; the Alogena and Acrilica lamps, the famous glass Smoker and also advanced interiors such as the domestic landscape Visiona and the self-sufficient Total Furnishing Unit, designed for his own apartment. GP

+ triennale.it
+ design-museum.de
+ joecolombo.com