widthIf he wants to dance under the conditions of petrochemicals, he should first put on appropriate music-when the designer and architect Michele de Lucchi and Ettore Sottsass gathered several colleagues in December 1980 to dare to carry out an aesthetic revolution, they laid the foundation NS Bob Dylan LP “Blonde on Blonde” and the song “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” were especially popular with everyone. Today no one knows whether this is the line “They provided me with duct tape”; or whether the Italians mistranslated “mobile” as “mobili”. In any case, that night they agreed to call their sport “Memphis.”
Their design at the time was an attack on the creamy solidity of bourgeois taste and the strict modernity requirements of “form follows function”. Sottsass is widely regarded as the spokesperson of the organization. But it is Michele de Lucchi who designed the most wonderful lamps, tables, shelves and chairs, with the greatest sensibility, color pleasure and a sense of humor that the entire industry has never known until now: objects, always at the border between furniture and sculpture Above, this design is designed to make the audience feel ugly and dazzling at first glance.
Design means exploration
Since historicism, furniture has not been so interesting, and is not interested in pure functionality-it’s just that antique lovers will never use table lamps “Oceanic” or side tables “Kristall” to decorate their apartments. Bright yellows, deep pinks, bright light blues and black and white stripes: these are signs of irreconcilable design aesthetics. As early as 1987, De Lucchi must have had a weak time when designing the “Tolomeo” table lamp. This is a very practical thing made of discreet aluminum, which can match almost any interior decoration: this is his biggest designer as a designer. success.
Born in Ferrara in 1951 in the city of Michelangelo Antonioni and Giorgio Bassani, he wanted to study art; his father tried to force him to study engineering: architecture is a compromise. But of course, when he disguised as a soldier and protested at the Milan Triennale in 1973 that too much furniture was completely redundant, it was a very interesting artistic act. At the same time, after the event in Memphis, he once again admitted this position today. If a company asks for a new chair just to convince people to buy something they don’t really need, de Lucchi admitted in a recent interview that he would refuse.
This is an ecologically very modern attitude. At the same time, people want to strongly oppose the boring cultural Protestantism that seems to be expressed here. This is not necessary when you see de Lucchi’s latest work. With his big beard, small round glasses and challenging eyes behind him, de Lucchi looks like a traveler in the revolutionary era. In fact, he founded his office AMDL in 1998, and he created structures that were rarely seen before: for example, the Peace Bridge in Tbilisi, Laden’s famous “Zirmerhof” hotel or the expansion of the headquarters. UniCredit-Bank of Milan; the building is mainly made of wood and the shape is so bold that one wonders what concrete is still good today.
On the homepage, it’s hard to distinguish between projects that have been implemented and those that are still drafts. de Lucchi doesn’t seem to mind: for him, design means research, and if he wants to create something real, he needs his electricity. Saw and chopped a piece of wood. He recently proved the fact that he is no longer provocative, because hardly anything is less provocative than provocative willingness. Today, he is seventy years old.
