STUDIO A.R.D.I.T.I

Studio A.R.D.I.T.I was founded in Florence in 1968 by Duccio Trassinelli, Alessandro Mazzoni, Delle Stelle, Elisabetta Scheggi Merlini and Gianni Gamberini. Associated with the Italian anti-design movement, they signed the manifesto “Studio A.R.D.I.T.I” published during the International Conference on Environmental Structures chaired by Umbert Eco in 1971, in Rimini. A political satire, the manifesto argued against the capitalist and consumerist tendencies that dominated the design industry in the post-war period. Although less well known than other radical design collectives of the postmodern era, such as Memphis and Alchimia, Studio A.R.D.I.T.I. developed a series of influential objects during the 1970s, such as the “Memoria” armchair produced by Cassina in 1972; through a manually operated valve, the air released allowed the chair to mould to the body of its user. Studio A.R.D.I.T.I. was also among the first to develop low-voltage lamps: the Ponte lamp (1971), the Prismar lamp (1972) and the BT series (1972). Many designs from Studio A.R.D.I.T.I., which dissolved in 1977, are in the permanent collections of many museums around the world, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Vitra Museum.