Post War Rationalism and Italian Furniture Design

• During the 1940s in Italy, little time was available for artisans to recreate the embellishments of former Italian design periods. A group of architects, designers and artists, called Gruppo 7, formed to develop the blueprints for modern Italy. Although they did borrow from earlier styles, their intent was to strip everything down to bare elements. Their materials of choice were basic and industrial: glass, Lucite, plastic, leather, molded wood, and stainless steel and other metals. Designers used them according to their own aesthetics.
  
  

Carlo Mollino's Aesthetic

• Mollino molded modern materials into organic forms.Jim Arbogast/Digital Vision/Getty Images
  
  Although he incorporated new industrial materials with modern design, Carlos Mollino eschewed the strict industrialism of the Gruppo 7. He preferred a softer, more humanistic approach, designing furniture that had elements of the human body. His furniture is organic, with wood and metals molded into curves, such as elbows and knees.
  
  

Gio Ponti Brought Deco to His Designs

• Ponti added decorative elements and the brilliant colors of Murano glass.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Gio Ponti was in love with the industrialism of the 20th century, but he still adhered to the aesthetics of neoclassicism. His work as a designer in a ceramics company and a Murano glass factory influenced his designs. His forms were more geometric than Mollino's but his use of patterns, intense colors and art deco touches distinguished his furniture.
  
  

1940s Italian Furniture into the 21st Century

• The 2011 Salone Internazionale del Mobile furniture fair in Milan, the ultimate showcase of modern Italian furniture, was full of echoes from the 1940s. The basic furniture design elements of the Gruppo 7 of the 1940s were evident: Gio Ponti's geometry and brilliant colors, Mollino's organic curves, and their incorporation of industry and technology.