SuperDesign: Italian Radical Design 1965-75

An eye-popping survey of an exuberant and epochal chapter in modern design, SuperDesign unveils the legacy of the Italian Radicals in unparalleled detail.

SuperDesign is the only wide-ranging look at the short-lived but powerfully influential movement known as Italian Radical design. In numerous exclusive interviews, unreleased photographs, original drawings and artwork unearthed from personal archives, and newly commissioned photography of rarely seen works, SuperDesign casts new light on this tumultuous period of design.

What started as a largely student-led rally against the establishment and a rejection of accepted design norms became a movement that brought together some of the most dynamic and avant-garde thinkers and creative makers across Italy. SuperDesign reveals how and why these designers changed the way we think about the objects that surround us during this short yet action-packed time. Through enigmatic, confrontational, and even distasteful objects, peppered with innovations in the interiors of youth discos and subversive performances, the Radicals projected design’s new era as equal parts Pop Art, play, Surrealism, and futurism.

Alongside the exclusive primary source material, SuperDesign features additional essays by top design scholars Deyan Sudjic and Catharine Rossi. This book demystifies these fantastic works and tells the stories behind the often contentious relationships between the key figures of the movement (some of whom remain at odds still, nearly fifty years later). Bridging Hippie Modernism and Memphis, SuperDesign is a lively document of how the iconoclasm and bold experimentation of the Italian Radicals continues to influence design today.