by Charlotte & Peter Fiell

This 12-volume reprint – covering the years 1928–1999 and including over 7,000 pages and 20,000 images – charts the extraordinary history of modern architecture and design, from the birth of the International Style to Late Modern. For us, this project has been both an exciting collaboration between two major publishing companies, and a wonderful journey of discovery.

It has allowed us to work as archaeologists than editors, unearthing long-forgotten gems of architecture and design from over 200,000 original pages that we have scoured to make our final selection of highlights. It is to both publishers – Maria Giovanna Mazzocchi and Benedikt Taschen – that we offer our sincere thanks for having the patience and foresight to allow us to bring this wonderful project to fruition.

Since its inception in 1928, domus has been guided by Gio Ponti’s vision of a forum that would offer a privileged insight into the style of a particular age, while also identifying and promoting the work of its “discoveries”: the most progressive designers and architects working in Italy (such as Studio BBPR and Carlo Mollino) and abroad (from Richard Neutra to Richard Rogers). The most important journal of its kind, with a national and international profile, domus has had a major influence on Italian visual culture, and on architecture and design worldwide. Moreover, the importance of what the magazine chose to feature was (and still is) matched by the cutting-edge graphic design used in its presentation. For instance, the sheer dynamism of the covers (many by famous designers/artists such as Herbert Bayer, Herbert Matter, Paul Rand, Max Bill, Paul Klee, Lucio Fontana, Le Corbusier, Charles Eames, Milton Glaser and, of course, Gio Ponti himself) was startlingly forward-looking and placed the publication firmly within the avant-garde. domus originally started out as a lifestyle magazine with articles on cookery, gardening and even animal husbandry. After the first few issues, though, it increasingly focused on its strengths: architecture, interior design, product and industrial design and, to a lesser extent, fine art and photography. Since Ponti’s departure from the editorship in the 1970s, the publication has maintained its visual and intellectual vitality in part through its unique policy of replacing its main editor every five years. This rotation of talent has brought a variety of leading figures to the role, including Cesare Maria Casati, Alessandro Mendini and Mario Bellini. Each newcomer is also expected to appoint an art director to implement a complete re-design of the magazine.

So what were our selection criteria? Firstly, we tried to choose the best of the best – the most influential projects by the most important designers and architects. Secondly, we allowed a small degree of personal subjectivity to creep in. We chose what we liked, so lots of Carlo Mollino, Charles Eames, Joe Colombo, Angelo Mangiarotti and Ettore Sottsass Jr. as well as some more obscure work that we felt had particular merit. We have remained faithful to the original layouts, organizing the selected pages chronologically, with breakspreads (showing all the magazine’s covers) dividing up the years to assist with orientation. We also included some of the original advertising to contextualize the featured articles, and as graphically interesting in its own right. The end result condenses the original material (which requires about 20 meters of wall-space) into twelve volumes without (we hope) compromising the integrity of the 71 years of domus’ history featured here. The selection process was also revelatory for us: from the surprising formal richness of the 1940s to the experimental exuberance of the early 1970s. Equally interesting was the Milanese design community’s rejection of stylistically restrictive movements, and its tireless promotion of lifestyle within the pages of domus, dubbed the “Mediterranean megaphone.” This relaxed and informal Italian approach to domestic design became a model for the international design community in the 1950s. In addition to our selection of highlights, two introductory essays accompany each volume. The first outlines the history of domus for the specific period it covers; the second, which functions more as a personal reminiscence, is written by one of domus’s illustrious ex-editors about their time at the helm, or by one of the magazine’s most important contributors, such as Lisa Licitra Ponti and Ettore Sottsass.

There are also newly created sublines that provide key caption data as well as information concerning text continuations, original translations and newly translated texts. Significantly, many articles have been translated into English for the very first time. Each volume has a comprehensive index including both designers’ and manufacturers’ names. In conjunction with the master index on CD this will prove an invaluable research tool.

Working alongside the editorial team at domus, we have come to appreciate its goal of showing the highest quality work from around the world, illustrated and explained by the best photographers and writers. Beyond this we have come to understand the journal’s search for a philosophy rather than a theory of design that offers a highly intellectual yet non-prescriptive agenda for its practice. At domus, design encompasses everything – “from the spoon to the city” – and to be worthy of inclusion on its pages a project must have graceful beauty, practical function, spatial clarity, intellectual persuasion and/or relevant originality. Gio Ponti’s vision of a forum for important design and architecture is therefore still firmly rooted in the ethos of domus. This idea has lasted because the magazine continues to be infused with both a deeply held passion for excellence in man-made objects, and an over-riding belief that these inter-locking disciplines have crucial political responsibilities that should transcend the vagaries of fashion and enrich our world.