Abstract
Fifty years after the first exhibition by the Exhibition Design group, Michele Galluzzo recounts the first experiments of the collective in Pre design 1969. Research on plastic laminate by the Exhibition Design group. Made up of leading Italian graphic designers such as Giulio Confalonieri, Silvio Coppola, Franco Grignani, Bruno Munari and Pino Tovaglia, the ED group was formed in the late 1960s in Milan and in less than a decade gave rise to an extremely interesting experience, which until now has only been partially investigated.
Highlighting the peculiarities of the group's approach, the publication focuses on overcoming the concept of individual authorship, the choice of exhibition space as a tool for dialogue with the community, reflection on design methodology and research in an interdisciplinary perspective. The essay is accompanied by photographs by Luciano Ferri and Ugo Mulas, recently acquired by Galleria Corraini, which reconstruct the preparatory and research phases prior to the exhibition, the still life documentation of the completed experiments, until the opening of the exhibition Design ricerche plastiche in the Sala delle Cariatidi of Palazzo Reale in September 1969, promoted by the Laminati Plastici / Formica and Bernini companies.
Pre design 1969 therefore offers an opportunity to reflect on the role of research and experimentation in dialogue with companies and the community, on the responsibility of the designer towards the end user, on the use of the exhibition space as a place of meeting and dissemination, as well as on the intermingling of graphics and industrial design at a crucial time in the history of Italian design.