cover image Joe Colombo and Italian Design of the Sixties

Joe Colombo and Italian Design of the Sixties

Vittorio Fagone, Joe C. Colombo, Ignazia Favata Valentini. MIT Press (MA), $32.5 (126pp) ISBN 978-0-262-06117-9

Italian designer Colombo envisioned his glossy, multi-functional units as ``machines for living,'' as self-contained as a spaceship cabin. For example, his ``Spaziale'' bed is equipped with telephone, radio, light and ashtray, while his compact kitchen-on-wheels sports stove, refrigerator, cabinets and cooking utensils. Yet much of the innovative work done by this trend-setter of the sleek ``'60s style'' now looks commonplace, even hackneyed. Among his ingenious designs are a hanging lamp that slides vertically along cables, an armchair made of cushions sandwiched together and a motorized drawing table. Most of his curvy chairs look chic but uncomfortable. Favata, Colombo's assistant until his death in 1971, and Fagone, art professor at New York University, link the diverse facets of his career as painter of fossilized organic forms, interior designer and futurist. (Nov.)