Joe Colombo: Inventing the Future

Joe Colombo: Inventing the Future
A traveling exhibition by Vitra and the
The Triennalie Di Milano.

Joe Colombo at "The Triennalie Di Milano"

After the world rediscovered the incredible design from Danish-Swiss Designer Verner Panton, renewed and must deserved attention is now also going towards the works from Italian designer Joe Colombo.

The Triennale di Milano, together with the Joe Colombo Studio and Vitra is organizing traveling exhibitions throughout Europe on the works of Joe Colombo. The Triennalie Di Milano also released a new catalogue raisonne on Joe Colombo which is already available through Amazon.

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. They exude the spirit of the shrill Sixties yet also impress with their functionality and striking forms. One of the most successful designers of his time, Colombo produced design classics such as the "Elda” armchair, the "Universale” chair or the lamp “Alogena”.

In 1971, he died at 41 years of age. The exhibition "Joe Colombo – Inventing the Future” is the first international retrospective dedicated to Colombo’s work.

Produced in close cooperation with the estate of Joe Colombo, the exhibition presents an abundance of never-before-shown materials on Joe Colombo’s body of work. These include early original objects and prototypes of Colombo’s most important furniture designs as well as many original sketches, plans, brochures, architectural models, several films and original photos. Structured into four groups, the exhibition traces the rapid development of Colombo’s brief life and conveys a lively impression of the designer’s tremendous productivity that fascinated contemporaries even during his lifetime.

Joe Colombo at "The Triennalie Di Milano"

Several creation of Joe Colombo are still in production today through B-LINE, Zanotta and O-Luce. I found his Boby storage trolley listed as well at Moss in New York and online through Amazon and nova68.com