Joe Colombo – Inventing the Future. An exhibition of Vitra Design Museum in cooperation with the Triennale di Milano and the Studio Joe Colombo, Milan. Interview with the curator of the exhibition, Mateo Kries, on January 20, 2006. Part 1.
Televisions that retract into the ceiling, pivoting walls with a built-in mini-bar, underground “nuclear cities” – the works of Italian designer Joe Colombo could have emerged from the set of a contemporary James Bond film. The exhibition presents an abundance of never-before-shown materials on Joe Colombo’s body of work. Further information on the museums’ website, publication available through the Museum Shop.
Televisions that retract into the ceiling, pivoting walls with a built-in mini-bar, underground “nuclear cities” – the works of Italian designer Joe Colombo could have emerged from the set of a contemporary James Bond film. The exhibition presents an abundance of never-before-shown materials on Joe Colombo’s body of work. Further information on the museums’ website, publication available through the Museum Shop.
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LearningTranscript
00:00 [ Background noise ]
00:27 >> We decided to do this exhibition because Giacolombo died very young,
00:30 in the beginning of the 1970s.
00:33 And he was a little forgotten in the 1970s and '80s, although he was one
00:40 of the most important figures in design of the '60s.
00:43 So we thought it might be good to inform about his work, about his personality,
00:49 because he was very influential and he is today still being rediscovered as a designer
00:57 that has to offer a lot of inspiration for designers today.
01:00 So that's why we wanted to show Colombo's complete work.
01:06 He was a very interesting personality.
01:09 Not only his work was important, but also his personality was part of his image,
01:17 which today we think of when we talk about Giacolombo.
01:23 He was a big person, always well-dressed, with a pipe in his mouth.
01:29 He liked fast cars, skiing.
01:32 He played jazz music.
01:34 So he was a person that you might call a dandy of design,
01:38 or somebody who had a very sophisticated lifestyle.
01:42 And I think it's important to consider this personality of Giacolombo if you want
01:47 to understand also his work as a designer.
01:50 Colombo was born in a quite wealthy Milanese family.
01:54 His family had a production site for electric cables.
02:00 So I think a certain interest in technology was already in his family.
02:06 But Colombo turned towards painting as a young man.
02:14 He was about 20, he started to study painting.
02:17 He joined a group of painters that was called Nuclear Painting.
02:24 So these young guys were painting in a way with very eruptive pictures.
02:34 Maybe you would compare it to Jackson Pollock's painting, or to other artists
02:41 of the time who painted in an abstract way.
02:43 And so did these Milanese boys.
02:46 But Colombo turned away from painting in the middle of the 1950s.
02:51 He became more interested in architecture.
02:53 He tried to establish himself as an architect.
02:56 But this did not really work out.
02:59 He didn't have the success he wished to have as an architect.
03:02 He didn't succeed to realize his designs as an architect.
03:08 And then at the end of the 1950s he also had to take care of his father's company
03:16 because his father became sick and he died some years later.
03:20 So there was an excursion in economy in Joe Colombo's career.
03:26 But in the beginning of the 1960s he discovered that he's not the right person
03:31 to run his father's electric cable business.
03:34 So he turned away from that.
03:37 He found other people who took over the company.
03:39 And then he finally decided to work as a designer.