ENZO MARI 113
not to use the calendar himself, saying: ‘I don’t want to have to remember to change the date every single day!’
Precision and simplicity became a hallmark of Mari’s plastic products for Danese, evident in designs such as the injection moulded polypropylene Attesa Wastepaper Basket (1971), his melamine Hawaii Egg Cups (1972), and the celebrated melamine Lampedusa Pencil Holder, originally released in 1967 and re-editioned in
12 11 1987 Allegory of death
Three gravestones, toy cars, soil exhibited at Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Republic of San Marino, during the Modelli del reale exhibition, 11 June – 24 August 1988 Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome
12 1975 Il Lavoro
Second panel of the Critica della Ricerca Intellettuale Separata Lithograph 54 x 45cm
Edizioni Il Lavoro Liberato Private collection Photo: Studio Enzo Mari
13 1974
Atlante secondo Lenin: Social Plate, Economy Plate, Geography Plate, Culture Plate, History Plate with Francesco Leonetti Edizioni L’Erba Voglio, 1976 Six lithograph panels, 33 x 45.5cm each Private collection
14 1969
L’uovo e la gallina, Emme Edizioni
Polychrome print on coated paper
215 x 215mm
Archivio E. Mari, City of Milan, CASVA
2015. He also worked with Anonima Castelli, most notably designing the ingenious self- assembly Box Chair for the company in 1971. Comprising a perforated injection-moulded polypropylene seat and tubular metal frame, the chair is totally collapsible, allowing it to fi t in a box for storage and easy transportation. Refl ecting Mari’s love of puzzles, the innovative design recalls his earlier products for children while being a fashionable, highly desirable object available in a range of vibrant
colours, including cobalt-blue, bright orange and a striking acid-yellow. Rightfully celebrated as a 1970s classic, the Box Chair was hugely successful and helped to further cement Mari’s reputation for intelligent, thoughtful and rational designs that made a personal connection with their users. Another very important consideration for Mari was aff ordability, which, as a committed Communist, refl ected his belief that good design should be as accessible as possible, enabling people from all walks of life to own beautiful, functional, well-made and life- enhancing products. One of his most famous projects, and an apt example of his thinking, is the 1974 book Autoprogettazione, a guide to creating well-designed, economical and easy-to-assemble furniture using only rough wooden boards and nails. For Mari, it was less about helping people to produce ‘superfi cially decorative objects’ than sharing knowledge and cultivating a critical eye through the act of making. Foregrounding the project’s educational rather than pragmatic value, Mari hoped that the process of building practical furniture using simple techniques would nurture an appreciation for the issues connected to the design process and improve people’s ability to evaluate industrially produced objects. T e book, which was accompanied by an exhibition at Galleria Milano in Milan, provided readers with instructions for copyright-free chairs, tables and beds, which have been reproduced countless times. Nevertheless, Mari maintained that most people failed to grasp the intention behind the project. In 1974, Mari collaborated with Dino Gavina’s Studio Simon on the Metamobile project, which focussed on the production of tables, chairs and beds using the 19 Autoprogettazione designs. T e furniture was constructed from simple pinewood boards as per the book’s original instructions but black lacquered metal screws, washers and nuts
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