Materia e visione

Materia e visione tells the story of a world of works, objects, and architectures born in Italy in the third millennium around the infinite potential of a primary, ancient material that is nonetheless fully devoted to the future: wood.

Written by Beppe Finessi, with graphic design by Artemio Croatto, the book opens with a selection of historic projects ("Things from yesterday to talk about today and tomorrow") that pay tribute to the teaching of Gio Ponti, the cabinet-making mastery of Pierluigi Ghianda and the Poggi workshop, the self-design of Enzo Mari, and the displays of the Castiglioni brothers, up to the works of masters such as Albini, Mollino, and Munari, and Burri, Boetti, and Ceroli. The heart of the volume ("Like a film") unfolds as a cinematic sequence that connects without hierarchy trees and woods (with works by Guido Guidi, Giuliano Mauri, Beppe Giacobbe, and Guido Scarabattolo), sculptural presences and art installations (Kawamata, Sassolino, Nunzio, Di Maggio, Favelli), icons of contemporary furnishings (Bellini, De Lucchi, Starck, Lissoni, Grcic, Urquiola, Laviani, Faccin, Iacchetti, Moor, Gamper, Campana), up to experiments in the field of displays (Riva, Rota, Zanetti, Curzi, Nigro) and interior architecture (Studio Terragni, Lazzarini Pickering, Vaerini, Librizzi, Boschi, Marcante Testa).

Promoted by FederlegnoArredo to celebrate eighty years of history in the association and industry, the volume questions the culture of design, highlighting how lasting over time means never ceasing to transform.