Marco Zanuso

Marco Zanuso (14 May 1916 – 11 July 2001) was an Italian architect and designer associated with modernism.

Early life Marco Zanuso was born in Milan, Italy, on 14 May 1916. He was part of a group of Milanese designers who helped shape the international concept of "good design" in the postwar years. He began studying architecture at the Politecnico di Milano in 1934 and graduated in 1939. During the Second World War, he served in the Italian Navy. After the war, in 1945, he established his own design office.

From the beginning of his career, Zanuso was active in architectural and design discourse. He served as editor of Domus from 1947 to 1949, and of Casabella from 1952 to 1956. In collaboration with Ernesto Nathan Rogers and others, he contributed to developing the theories and ideals of the modern design movement. As a professor of architecture, design, and urban planning at the Politecnico di Milano from the late 1940s until the 1980s, and as a founding member of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI) in the 1950s, he influenced a new generation of Italian designers.

Career Sewing machine mod. 1102 (Fratelli Borletti), winner of the Compasso d'Oro. Photo by Paolo Monti, 1956.

Zanuso's career spanned more than six decades. His focus on rational design as a means of problem-solving allowed him to explore new approaches in urban planning, architecture, and product design. He described his "inquisitiveness" as a driving force behind a "constant search for a new discovery". His method of "finding order in complexity" fostered openness to technological innovation, new materials, and functional aesthetics that aimed to enhance human experience.

Throughout his career, Zanuso collaborated with historians such as Giulio Carlo Argan, Domenico Pica, and Luigi Veronesi, with critics including Bruno Zevi and Gillo Dorfles, and with architects such as Ernesto Nathan Rogers and Gio Ponti. and the compact folding "Grillo" telephone for Siemens (1966), were among their most influential works. The Grillo was one of the first telephones to integrate the dial and earpiece into a single unit.

In 1971, Zanuso was invited to deliver a lecture in the Dunhill industrial design series in Australia. The following year, he and Sapper created modular dwellings for the exhibition Italy: The New Domestic Landscape at the MoMA in New York. Each unit could be unfolded into a living space complete with facilities and accessories of a small apartment. Zanuso described the project as "designed for all situations that require immediately available, easily transportable living quarters".

Zanuso received several honours during his career. He was awarded the Premio Presidente della Repubblica in 1984, the Compasso d'Oro Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994, and an honorary degree in industrial design from the Politecnico di Milano in 1999, where he also lectured from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Architecture Alongside his work with Richard Sapper in industrial design, Zanuso developed an architectural practice from his Milan studio, undertaking projects in Italy as well as in Argentina, Brazil, and South Africa. His residential projects are regarded as contributing to architectural innovation in a period that redefined the role and processes of the modern movement. Zanuso praised the new material for its capacity to revolutionise upholstery and manufacturing, noting its potential to achieve new structural and formal possibilities with industrial standards previously unattainable.

His work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Triennale Milano, (Medaglia d'Oro Triennale) 1952 – Martingala armchair for Arflex 1952 – Tripoltrona sofa for Arflex (Medaglia d'Oro Triennale) 1954 – Sleep-o-matic sofa for Arflex (Medaglia d'Oro Triennale) 1955 – Olivetti buildings in Buenos Aires and São Paulo 1956 – Model 1102 sewing machine for Fratelli Borletti 1960 – Lambda chair for (with Richard Sapper) 1962 – Doney television for Brionvega (with Richard Sapper) 1963 – Alfa Romeo 2600 design study (with Richard Sapper) 1964 – Algol television for Brionvega (with Richard Sapper) 1964 – Woodline and Fourline armchairs for Arflex 1964 – K 4999 children's chair for Kartell (with Richard Sapper) 1964 – TS 502 radio for Brionvega (with Richard Sapper) 1970 – Marcuso table for Zanotta 1970 – Hastil pen for Aurora (with Richard Sapper) 1974 – IBM building in Milan 1995 – Duna cutlery set for Alessi 1998 – Piccolo Teatro, Milan

Publications François Burkhardt, Marco Zanuso. Design. Milan: Federico Motta Editore, 1994. Aldo Colonnetti, Grafica e Design a Milano 1933–2000. Milan: Collana AIM – Abitare Segesta Cataloghi, 2001. L. Crespi et al., Marco Zanuso: architettura e design. Rome: Officina Libraria, 2020. M. De Giorgi, "Casa Press/Press House Marco Zanuso". Inventario, vol. 1, 2011, pp. 156–159. M. De Giorgi, Marco Zanuso architetto. Milan: Skira, 1999. E. Peres and A. Zamboni, Creating Coromandel: Marco Zanuso in South Africa. London: Artifice Press, 2022. R. Grignolo, Marco Zanuso: Scritti sulle tecniche di produzione e di progetto. Milan: Mendrisio Academy Press and Silvana Editoriale (Collection directed by Letizia Tedeschi), 2013.