JOE COLOMBO

Design, for Joe, meant first and foremost “imagining what is possible”. Or anticipating the future. A child of pop art and plastic culture, influenced in a non-superficial way by the futuristic suggestions of 1960s science fiction, Joe Colombo – who liked to describe himself as a “creator of the future” – embodies the most promethean and cutting edge aspect of Italian design: a technician and artist at one and the same time, he was at the forefront of the innovations in technology and machinery, taking up and embracing their challenge with his own unmistakable and distinctive vision. His career was short, a nine year stretch of brilliance from 1962 to 71. Colombo stumbled into design at the late age of thirty-two from a background of sculpture, art and architecture.

When Joe’s father died, the family ribbon/electrical factory became a personal playground. Colombo took the opportunity to experiment with the latest production processes and newly developed space age plastics such as fibreglass, ABS, PVC and polyethylene. Joe was determined to stretch the limits of materials and manufacture, to produce a sculptural chair produced from a single material. An early iconic design was the model 4801, a low-slung chair made of three pieces of plywood and manufactured by Kartell in 1965.

After initial trials with aluminium, fibreglass (1963 Elda Armchair) and ABS, Colombo created another masterpiece with the Kartell produced 'Universale'. He perfected it for mass-production in 1967, as a stackable, easy to clean PVC chair, with adjustable length legs. Colombo made furniture with irony and joy. He looked at different ways of sitting in line with a more mobile, fluid lifestyle by analysing the human form. The Tubo Chair, Multi Chair and Additional Living System seating (1967) consisted of elements or cushions of different sizes that could be pinned or strapped together to make new forms according to a desired way of sitting.

In 1971 Colombo developed the Total Furnishing Unit. With this system kitchen, cupboards, bed and bathroom are contained in a single unit in Colombo's signature colours of white, yellow, red and black. Sadly, Colombo didn't live to see it exhibited at MoMA New York in 1972. He died of heart failure on his birthday at the age of 41. Through his inspirational design, Joe Colombo's exuberance and love of life live on. The energetic designer is remembered for his radical furniture and all in one living systems.