Andrea Branzi

Andrea Branzi (1938- 2023) paralleled a lively career as a designer and numerous contributions to design theory. University professor (he presided over the Interior Design study course at the Milan Polytechnic and was one of the founders of the Domus Academy in 1983), prolific author of books on the history of design and critical monographs, also appreciated for his journalistic activity ( split for a long time in the Casabella magazine in the 1970s and later directed the magazines Modo and Domus): Andea Branzi is an all-round intellectual and one of the great cultural animators who contributed to making the Italian design movement fruitful. In the design field, his career is linked to the radical design movement in all its various incarnations, right from the beginning in his native Florence with the foundation in 1966 of the Archizoom Associati group (which also included his friends Paolo Deganello, Massimo Morozzi and Gilberto Corretti). In those lively years, the group participated in the turmoil that revolutionized Italian design, contesting the theoretical foundations of the prevailing Modernism at the time and proposing extreme furnishings that subverted the traditional concept of "good taste". Many of the most famous furnishings born from this experience, which ended in 1974, are still produced by the Poltronova brand today. At the same time as the end of the history of Archizoom Branzi moved to Milan, where he opened a design studio and devoted himself to organizing exhibitions and cultural events. At the end of the 70s he participated with some furnishings in the experience of Studio Alchimia and later also gave his contribution to Ettore Sottsass's Memphis. His most famous creation of the 1980s is the Domestic Animals series for Zanotta's Zabro collection, in which he developed the idea that furnishings should be considered almost as pets. In the 90s he moved towards more reassuring forms and also inaugurated collaborations with large industries such as Cassina or Artemide. His creations can now be found in the catalogs of brands such as Alessi, Nemo, Qeeboo, Riva 1920, Rotalina, Ghidini 1960 and Fasem. He was awarded the Compasso d'Oro twice, in 1979 and in 1987 (the latter in recognition of his career).