Avril 2023

Joe Colombo (30 July 1930 – 30 July 1971), was an Italian industrial designer.[1] In 1951 he joined the Movimento Nucleare, founded by Sergio Dangelo and Enrico Baj. In 1962 Colombo opened his own interior design and architecture projects, mostly for lodges and skiing. Colombo designed products for Oluce, Kartell, Bieffe, Alessi, Flexform, Stilnovo, and Boffi.

Acrilica, O Luce, 1962

Together with his brother Gianni, Colombo developed the idea of prismatic lamps like the lamp Acrilica(1962). His first design for Kartell was the chair No.4801 (1963–1967) which consisted of three assembled plywood elements. The flowing elements of his chair were a foretaste of his later plastic designs, like the chair universale No.4860 (1965–1967), which was the first seating for adults made of ABS.

Armchairs, Kartell, 1965b-Line, boby trolley, 1970

His futuristic designs were integrated micro-living-worlds. For his own apartment Colombo designed the units Roto-living and Cabriolet-Bed (both 1969), followed by Total Furnishing Unit, which was presented at the exhibition Italy: The Domestic Landscape at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1972. It presented a complete "living-machine," comprising kitchen, wardrobe, bathroom, and sleeping accommodation, on only 28 square meters.

Cabriolet bed multifunctional monobloc (1969)

Boffi, Minikitchen (1963)

The kitchen-box (1963), on wheels and measuring 90x75x75cm, containing a two-burner stovetop, oven, grill, refrigerator, cutting board, pull-out worktop, and storage for cookbooks, knives, and other tools, has recently been reissued, slightly enlarged (96 cm(h)x107cmx65cm), manufactured by Boffi Spa