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The essentials: 20 of the best table lamps

1. Emeralite, Harrison D. McFaddin , 1909 The first patent for this lamp was filed in 1909 by the American Harrison D. McFaddin. Emeralite is also known as the banker's lamp, because its first recipient was a banker. The elitism of this profession is reflected in the choice of materials and finishes - a brass stand supporting a glass lampshade manufactured in Moravia - and in the classicist decorativism of its motifs, while the intensity of the emerald green lampshade when the light is on is still to this day an iconic element in the history of table lamps. In the decades that followed, many other versions of the Emeralite were made, with different colours and shapes of the lampshade. Emeralite was finally discontinued in the 1960s.  

Brass and glass. 16.85 x 21.59 x 44.45 cm.

“Bauhaus Lamp”, Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Carl Jakob Jucker, 1923-24 First produced in the Bauhaus metal workshop, the table lamp known as Bauhaus Lamp embodies the spirit of renewal of the German movement thanks to the absence of any decorative accessory elements. The lamp is characterized by its visible working parts, the combination of clear geometric shapes and the spherical and opaque glass shade, which had been used until then only for industrial lights. A revolution that makes the essentiality of forms a new parameter of taste and an incentive to bring modernity in the domestic environment.

Nickel-plated metal, glass, opaque shade. Diameter 14 cm, height 45 cm.

3. Kandem Bedside Table Lamp, Marianne Brandt, Hin Bredendieck, 1928 Among the very few students allowed inside the Bauhaus metal workshop, Marianne Brandt focused on designing objects that were capable of synthesizing essentiality and sculptural presence of shapes. More than any other project, the Kandem bedside table lamp, which Brandt designed with the help of Hin Bredendieck, makes the simplicity of its lines an example of good design, while the use of metal represents an innovation in an era that favoured the presence of glass lampshades. The Leipzig lamp manufacturer Kandem, with which Brandt had started a collaboration that involved the entire Bauhaus movement, sold more than 50,000 lampshades in a few years.

Metal, adjustable lamp stand. 23.5 x 18.4 cm

4. Cocotte, Serge Mouille, 1957 Designed in 1955 and marketed in 1957, Cocotte remains one of the most famous lamps by the French master of light Serge Mouille. Small, elegant and discrete, it is characterized by the game of balance between the feet, the inclination of the body and the rounded reflector. The lamp is now sold by Editions Serge Mouille and manufactured entirely in France.

Metal and brass. Height 34 cm, depth 30 cm. The black painted steel stem ends with a brass ball joint. The aluminium reflector with a shiny white interior can rotate up to 55 degrees.

5. Juncker, Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Flos, 1963 With its reflector in the shape of a helmet, Juncker is one of the first lamps to introduce the possibility of combining diffused and direct light in a single object. By tilting the shade, the light can be adjusted and rotated in different directions.

Lacquered metal base, metal shade. Height 22 cm.

6. E63, Umberto Riva, Bieffeplast/FontanaArte, 1963 This lamp was created for a competition launched by Artemide that involved the use of printed plastic materials. At first, it was called Brancusi, but it was later launched onto the market with the name E63. The smoothness of the surfaces and the contrast between the straight lines and the round curves emphasize its sculptural character. Since 2017, E63 has been redesigned by Tacchini, who has introduced a metal version that was already included among the original options provided for during the prototyping process.

ABS plastic and metal for Bieffeplast. 17x 21.7x 43.5 cm.

7. Modello n. 291 Spider, Joe Colombo, O Luce, 1965 Joe Colombo synthesizes in the Spider lamp - which is also available in floor and wall versions - a project that embraces the technical achievements of the time as well as the maximum freedom of use for the user. The project was inspired by the availability on the market of the new Silvered Cornalux, produced by Philips, which allowed a direct exposure of the light bulb, which is partially covered by chrome. And around the light bulb Colombo built a structure that reminded of the agility of the spider. The shade was made from a single sheet of printed and lacquered metal, and can be adjusted at will thanks to an innovative plastic joint that allows the rotation and height adjustment of the light source in a simple gesture. Spider won the Compasso d'Oro in 1967.

Table lamp, enameled metal base, chrome-plated tubular metal stem; adjustable black enameled metal shade. Height 40 cm, diameter 18 cm.

8. Eclisse, Vico Magistretti, Artemide, 1966 Eclisse is a shape-shifting lamp that interprets the very popular (in that decade) theme of space-age thanks to a design intuition that is as discrete as it is clever. The spherical lacquered steel lampshade is made of three interlocking half-spheres: two fixed and one inner shade that rotates: as the inner shade covers the bulb, the light is gradually dimmed, and can even be completely obscured, producing the effect of a total eclipse, and turning the lamp into a mysterious object with undefined contours. By mimicking the lunar cycle, Eclisse becomes a poetic object, without however affecting its functional potential: it is a perfect bedside lamp for its ability to adjust the direction of the light at will. Eclisse was awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1967.

Lacquered metal available in white, red or orange with on/off switch. 12 x 12 x 18 cm.

9. Ruspa, Gae Aulenti, Martinelli Luce, 1967 Another variation on the theme of modularity of light, the Ruspa lamp once again plays with the possibility of rotating the shade in order to partially reduce the light intensity. A further element of fascination is given by the geometric organization of its components, which prove to be complementary: the base, in the shape of a quarter of a sphere, is virtually completed by the shade, which corresponds to the other three quarters of the same sphere.

Base and shade in lacquered metal, 58 cm high.

10. Modello 602, Cini Boeri, Arteluce, 1968 The bedside table lamp designed by Cini Boeri was inspired by poor and apparently boring materials, which were used to create a surprising game of joints. Rigid PVC pipes, for production and industrial purposes, enter the domestic space, showing that it is the wit and ironic touch of a project, and not necessarily the nobility of the materials, that make the difference. By moving the arm of the lamp, the light can be adjusted as desired, adapting to the needs of every reader.  

PVC pipes, dimmer switch and LED lighting. 20.5 x 25 cm, diameter 8 cm.

11. Hebi, Isao Hosoe, Valenti, 1970 A PVC clad flexible metal tube makes the Hebi lamp - which, not surprisingly, means "snake" in Japanese - an unrivalled champion of flexibility. The metal lamp shade can also be rotated 360 degrees, allowing to adjust the lighting angle at will. Isao Hosoe, who graduated in aerospace engineering, designed an object that you can shape and transform as if it were a toy, and which represents an excellent typological innovation in table lamps. Over two hundred thousand examples of this very popular lamp were sold worldwide.

Flexible tube covered with a flexible polymer, adjustable lampshade in lacquered metal. Height: 70 cm.  

12. Table Lamp, Nanda Vigo, Arredoluce, 1970 Among Vigo's great experiments in the field of light, we find Table Lamp, which maintains the minimalist style that characterizes her creations between the '60s and '70s, while playing with a decorative dialogue between the materials of the base and the body - chrome-plated metal and brass respectively. The adjustable head can be rotated upwards, transforming the lamp into an unusual spotlight.  

Chromed metal, brass. Diameter of the base 15 cm.

13. Lampadina, Achille Castiglioni, Flos, 1972 Lampadina synthesizes the naked simplicity of the bulb with the useful trick of using the base also to contain excess power cord. Without any accessory embellishment but, on the contrary, celebrating the beauty of the less ostentatious objects of everyday life, this small table lamp represents another of Achille Castiglioni's iconic inventions in the world of lighting, capable of solving the complex problem of having an extremely long cable, with a simple solution.

Anodized aluminium base, bakelite lamp-holder with liquid coating for the orange version. Globolux light bulb partially sand-blasted on one side. Height 24 cm.

14. Tizio, Richard Sapper, Artemide, 1972 The name of this iconic lamp perfectly reflects the intentions of Ernesto Gismondi, owner of the Artemide manufacturer and creator of the lamp: an object that could satisfy "Tizio, Caio e Sempronio" (in English something like "Tom, Dick and Harry), by meeting the needs of a wide audience. Its functional characteristics explain its success: thanks to two counterweights, its lampshade and arms can be moved with little effort. Tizio is a little lamp that allows a great freedom of movement and to direct the light as desired. The simplicity of the shapes is combined with engineering complexity: the lamps is made of over a hundred components.

Aluminium, technopolymer. 78 x 66 x diameter 11 cm

15. Valigia, Ettore Sottsass, Stilnovo, 1977 Sottsass, who was a tireless traveler, with his Valigia lamp combined the typical shape of a suitcase with a moving lamp. The handle on the lampshade allows to move the lamp with little effort, satisfying the ever-changing desires of its owner. The light, completely shielded, transforms the surrounding space into a luminous island for working or reading. Ironic in form as in spirit, Valigia is a prelude to the freedom of expression to which Sottsass devoted himself during the Memphis years.  

Metal tube, painted metal. 37x 22 x 34 cm.

16. Tolomeo, Michele De Lucchi and Giancarlo Fassina, Artemide, 1987 Inspired by traditional arm lamps, Tolomeo is one of the greatest successes in the history of industrial design. A reinterpretation of the pantograph lamp, it replaces the springs of previous models such as the Anglepoise and Naska Loris with steel cables and joints that keep them in tension and give them a hi-tech touch. It was awarded a Compasso d'Oro in 1989 and in 2010 was one of the first lamps to be declared a "form trademark" by UAMI, the European Union's office in charge of trademark, design and model registration for the 27 EU countries, because of its iconic profile. During an interview, De Lucchi revealed that he cannot explain the success of his model, which remains the best-selling lamp of recent decades.

Base and structure with moving arms in polished aluminium; diffuser in anodized aluminium; joints and supports in polished aluminium. 78 x 129 x diameter of 23 cm.

17. Block Lamp, Harri Koskinen, 1996 Block Lamp looks like a frozen lamp: it consists of a lightbulb encased within two pieces of transparent glass, which form a brick-sized block. The caged light bulb becomes the decorative protagonist of the work. When switched on, the lamp seems to give off a mystical aura thanks to the light source that seems to come from a block of ice.  

Clear hand-cast glass, black cable and electric switch.  9.5 x 16.5 x 10.2 cm.

18. Elica, Brian Sironi, Martinelli, 2009 Without visible mechanisms and without a switch, Elica is the first lamp that can be switched on with a movement of the hand, inaugurating a new form of interaction, more spontaneous and poetic, between user and object. It is in fact the arm that, by rotating, causes the lamp to turn on and off. The proportions of the lamp with LED light source integrated deliberately refer to the golden ratio, so as to emphasize the sculptural purity of the relationship between the components. Elica was awarded a Compasso d'Oro in 2011.  

Painted aluminium base and arm, integrated LED light source. 60 x 38 cm.

19. Piani, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Flos, 2011 Piani is both a table lamp and a storage tray thanks to the appearance of its base. Its apparent simplicity is not the result of cold geometric interlocking shapes, but simply plays with the proportions of the two flat and parallel levels separated by a vertical pillar, which was an innovation in the world of table lamps.

Injection printed lamp body in ABS. Dissipater in polished pressofused aluminium. Diffuser in injection printed optical PMMA.  Electronic transformer on plug. 26,4 x 20 cm.

20. Filo, Andrea Anastasio, Foscarini, 2017 Designer Andrea Anastasio revisited the table lamp in a decorative way, transforming the elements that are usually hidden into something to proudly boast. His lamp is interesting because it breaks expectations: two unexpected large glass beads and several layers of electrical wire that, although hanging on a hook or potentially about to unravel, seem destined to remain where they are.

Porcelain, textile cord, blown glass and painted metal. Height 50 cm, base diameter 20 cm, cable length 300 cm.  

Twenty iconic desk lamps that have marked the history of design by combining new technical achievements with the constant search for innovative shapes. Read full article here.

Lost icons of the 20th century: motorway service area by Angelo Bianchetti

Image Archivio Arch. Jan Jacopo Bianchetti

Designed by Angelo Bianchetti in 1958 for the food company Pavesi, the building has been partially demolished: the three self-supporting arches remain standing, remnants of a futuristic manifesto for architecture. Read full article here.

Ten comics that will change the way you look at architecture

1. The Eternaut Paolo Bacilieri: These days, it’s impossible not to think about the father of dystopian comics, Enrique. The Argentinean comic The Eternaut (1957) by Oesterheld and Solano-Lopez is very interesting also from an architectural point of view, in its 'brutalistic' simplicity and graphic immediacy. The story begins, as many people know, with a deadly snowfall. It’s all set in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, in a small Tyrolean-looking villa that has always struck me for its "distant" appearance, that vague sense of familiarity and, at the same time, of space-and- time remoteness! Together with the Eternaut, who’s the protagonist, the readers can travel in space and time with this immortal masterpiece. Enrique Bordes: Querido Paolo! The first time I went to do the shopping in Madrid wearing a medical mask, I felt a bit like Juan Salvo, the protagonist. There was also one day, at the beginning of the lockdown, where it seemed like it was snowing. Nothing else to add.

Authors: Héctor Germàn Oesterheld e Solano-Lòpez. Publisher: Fantagraphics Books. Pages: 364. ISBN: 978-1606998502

1. The Eternaut

Authors: Héctor Germàn Oesterheld e Solano-Lòpez. Publisher: Fantagraphics Books. Pages: 364. ISBN: 978-1606998502

1. The Eternaut

Authors: Héctor Germàn Oesterheld e Solano-Lòpez. Publisher: Fantagraphics Books. Pages: 364. ISBN: 978-1606998502

2. Asterix and the Roman Agent PB: What made this situation even sadder was the news of the death of Albert Uderzo, the illustrator of Asterix, Enrique! I usually divide cartoonists in 2 categories: the “archimedics” and the “proustians”. The works of the “archimedics” seem to be a continuous invention coming out of nothing, which materializes in real iconic elements, such as the vault of Scrooge Duck, Tin Tin's spacecraft, Captain America's shield, and so on. The “proustians” instead, with the most different techniques, take us back to a lost era and time, they evoke it, and bring back to life the past, the myth. You can feel the '70s in Valentina's clothes and armchairs, the uniforms and weapons in the stories of Corto Maltese, and so on. Perhaps this same macrodivision can also be applied to architects, Enrique? Frank Gehry, archimedic! Aldo Rossi, Proustian! Well, Uderzo is an archimedic for sure, it doesn't matter if his stories are set in the Gaul of 2,000 years ago. Everything, in his splendid illustrations, comes from scratch: from the village of Asterix and Obelix to the monuments of Imperial Rome, from the Roman “castrum” to the wild boar banquets that inevitably mark the ending of all the adventures, not to mention that perfectly iconic object that is Obelix’s menhir! EB: And the Gaulish village under the magnifying glass, too! 

Authors: Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny. Publisher: Educa Books. Pages: 48. ISBN: 978-2012101470.

3. Il commissario Spada PB: I understand and share your passion for this great comic, Enrique! Among the (few) advantages of my Catholic upbringing, there was Il Giornalino, a weekly magazine that published beautiful comics, including The adventures of Commissario Spada. No doubt that even from an “architectural” point of view De Luca’s comics are full of surprises, with acrobatic decoupages and creative visual solutions! His comics are as incredible as they are clear, limpid, perfectly readable even for a young boy from Veneto in the late seventies! All the elements of DeLuca’s language of comics are reinvented and reshaped into a unique, coherent and recognizable whole. But I believe that Gianni De Luca is a Proustian cartoonist: he takes us back, nay, he catapults us in "his" Milan of the late seventies! Nobody better than him managed to tell in a comic book those cars, those hairstyles, those phones, those hallways, that fog. EB: I agree! Maybe we can say that he was an archimedic of that language of comics? What struck me the most about De Luca is the fact that the first time he saw Rome, he saw it as a great comic book!

Authors: Gian Luigi Gonano (Giobbe) and Gianni De Luca. Publisher: Mondadori. Price: € 28. Format: 19.5 x 26 cm. Pages: 704. ISBN: 9788804680956

3. Il Commissario Spada

Authors: Gian Luigi Gonano (Giobbe) and Gianni De Luca. Publisher: Mondadori. Price: € 28. Format: 19.5 x 26 cm. Pages: 704. ISBN: 9788804680956

4. Italo PB: Italo is the new graphic novel by Vincenzo Filosa, a Crotonese mangaka to whom we already owe in recent years the translation and diffusion in Italy of Gekiga, the Japanese comic neorealism, and a handful of other beautiful graphic novels. Italo is a comic book characterized by a disarming authenticity and a great visual richness. It’s the story of a struggling young translator, graphic designer and cartoonist. He’s stuck between Milan and his native Calabria, between work difficulties and drug addiction, between the role of son and that of man and father, between Milanese SERTs (public bodies that help drug addicts). Filosa’s tender, precise and moving black and white even manages to make Calabrian abusive buildings look beautiful: the ground floors and first floors are plastered and inhabited, while the upper floors look skeletal.

Author: Vincenzo Filosa. Publisher: Rizzoli Lizard. Price: 20 €. Format: 21 x 15 x 1.8 cm. Pages: 192. ISBN: 9788817139700

4. Italo

Author: Vincenzo Filosa. Publisher: Rizzoli Lizard. Price: 20 €. Format: 21 x 15 x 1.8 cm. Pages: 192. ISBN: 9788817139700  

4. Italo

Author: Vincenzo Filosa. Publisher: Rizzoli Lizard. Price: 20 €. Format: 21 x 15 x 1.8 cm. Pages: 192. ISBN: 9788817139700  

5. Non mi posso lamentare PB: Paolo Cattaneo, a young Genoese cartoonist, tells us Danilo’s story. Non mi posso lamentare is a long, intimate, articulate and desperate love letter that a young misfit and terminally ill father, Danilo, writes to his unborn daughter, imagining she’s already a grown woman. Alienation, televisions, mobile phones, video games, Fiat Panda 4x4, canteens, supermarket parking lots, gas stations, Kinder Fiesta and Tobleroni, collapsed transmission towers and the squalor of the Italy of the early 2000, in a precise, cruel and colorful register. EB: I can't wait for this lockdown to end to get my hands on what Vincenzo and Paolo created! PB: What do you say Enrique, do you want to tell us your titles? EB: Alright, Paolo!  

Author: Paolo Cattaneo. Publisher: Rizzoli Lizard. Price: 21 €. Format: 21 x 15 x 1.8 cm. Pages: 240. ISBN: 9788817139663

5. Non mi posso lamentare

Author: Paolo Cattaneo. Publisher: Rizzoli Lizard. Price: 21 €. Format: 21 x 15 x 1.8 cm. Pages: 240. ISBN: 9788817139663

5. Non mi posso lamentare

Author: Paolo Cattaneo. Publisher: Rizzoli Lizard. Price: 21 €. Format: 21 x 15 x 1.8 cm. Pages: 240. ISBN: 9788817139663

5. Non mi posso lamentare

Author: Paolo Cattaneo. Publisher: Rizzoli Lizard. Price: 21 €. Format: 21 x 15 x 1.8 cm. Pages: 240. ISBN: 9788817139663

6. 13, Rue del Percebe EB: During this lockdown, several versions of a Spanish classic with which many generations have grown up have made their comeback: especially 13, Rue del Percebe, by Francisco Ibáñez. The idea behind this isn’t too original: the sections of a building become the layout of a comic page where you can see all the co-owners, living a more or less forced coexistence. But Ibáñez, by pure accumulation, has turned it into one of the best portraits we have of Spanish urban society, perhaps of Latin-European cities. The first pages of this type appeared in London and Paris in the 19th century, and the last one I saw, a few days ago, was of Lisbon, already satirically portraying the Coronavirus lockdown.

Author: Francisco Ibáñez. Publisher: Bruguera. Pages: 352. ISBN: 978-8402422705

6. 13, Rue del Percebe

Author: Francisco Ibáñez. Publisher: Bruguera. Pages: 352. ISBN: 978-8402422705

7. La casa EB: When talking about intimate spaces and Spanish comics, we cannot forget Paco Roca and Daniel Torres. Both of them, in the same year, published works that talk about our intimate history through the same title: La Casa. Roca tells the story of a family, while Torres talks about the whole humanity. However, deep down, they are both talking about the same thing: the strong link between our history and the spaces we inhabit. I would like to introduce even a third comic book with the same title: La Casa by French cartoonist Victor Hussenot, which further highlights the role of the comic book. Hussenot’s comics revolve around one thing: our home.

Author: Paco Roca. Publisher: Tunué. Pages: 125. Price: 19,90 €. ISBN: 978-8867901791

7. La casa

Author: Paco Roca. Publisher: Tunué. Pages: 125. Price: 19,90 €. ISBN: 978-8867901791

7. La casa

Author: Victor Hussenot. Publisher: Warum. Pages: 108. ISBN: 978-2-915920-70-3

7. La casa

Author: Daniel Torres. Publisher: Norma Editorial, S.A. Pages: 576. Price: ISBN: 978-8467920758

8. In the Shadow of No Towers EB: Art Spiegelman is one of the authors who most focuses on the idea that comics themselves can be a type of architecture. In The Shadow of No Towers, which talks about 9/11, form and substance are used to carry out a reflection on the medium and our reaction as a collective during difficult times. Now, you in Milan and me in Madrid, we are all “waiting for that other shoe to drop”, an expression that Spiegelman explains in his book about the aftermaths of 9/11.

Author: Art Spiegelman. Publisher: Pantheon Books. Pages: 48. Price: 33 €. ISBN: 978-0375423079

9. Building Stories EB: Almost at the creative antipodes of Ibañez, there is the great Chris Ware, a cartoonist who, through his Acme Novelty Library, revolutionized the language of comics. His Building Stories is an absolute masterpiece, containing vignettes and cartoons of intimacy in a big, not-at-all black box. I must confess that, for me, Ware is a God, his influence has been so great that some authors I know already jokingly say that they want him dead! (Paolo, I don't know if you are one of them...)

Author: Chris Ware. Publisher: Pantheon Books. Pages: 264. ISBN: 978-0375424335

10. Celestia EB: Paolo, after reflecting on your classification of authors, Archimedics and Proustians, and on their relationship with architecture, I think it would be interesting to focus on what Fior did with his Celestia (which I initially discovered on your blog... Can you believe there are still people who read and write on blogs?) His story includes two absolutely iconic architectures in Venice, that Wright and Le Corbusier, two of the most significant architects of the twentieth century, never managed to realize. If we did not know these two architectures, we would think that Fior is an archimedic creator... when in reality I think he's a Proustian in disguise. By reconstructing an architectural past that never existed, Fior creates a dystopian, fantastic Venice and new icons for the comics world. It fascinates me to see how many places are transformed and end up having another life through the eyes of comics, whether they be Proustian or not. Herrimann's Coconino, Seth's Dominion or the city of Palma de Mallorca itself in Historias del barrio or the Calabria of Filosa you were talking about earlier. PB: Yes, Enrique, I also like to think of another less evident connection between cartoonists and architects: the design of a story resembles that of a building, it starts for both of them with more or less confused sketches on paper, maps, glimpses, decoupages, details... We also design spaces where our characters move, love, hate, die... In a word, live.

Author: Manuele Fior. Publisher: Oblomov Edizioni. Pages: 48. Price: 10 €. Format: 17 x 24 cm. ISBN: 9-788885-621893

10. Celestia

Author: Manuele Fior. Publisher: Oblomov Edizioni. Pages: 48. Price: 10 €. Format: 17 x 24 cm. ISBN: 9-788885-621893

EXTRA: Bacillieradas! EB: Paolo! Since you’ve helped me make this list, I’m tempted to list a few of your works and your particular approaches to architecture as well. But I’ll try not to list too many of them. Maybe Tramezzino would be my first choice, with its double affirmation of the true beauty of a Modern Milan and of comics-architecture as a support of our intimacy. But, if I had to choose among your latest works only, I would choose the details of Bonelli editore comics, for example the details of your last Dylan Dog (#369, together with Ratigher, Giuseppe Montanari and Ernesto Grassani). Here, your precious square cartoons, real icons of your comics, become the tiles of a bathroom, as a testimony of something I always love to say: the comic strip is our second skin. I can't wait to see what you’re going to do in the next Dylan Dog. Paolo, during this difficult situation, it was really nice to talk about these things with you! 

Author: Paolo Bacilieri. Publisher: Canicola. Pages: 36. Format: 30×42 cm. Price: 17 €. ISBN: 978-8899524272

Book title: Tramezzino. Author: Paolo Bacilieri. Publisher: Canicola. Pages: 36. Format: 30×42 cm. Price: 17 €. ISBN: 978-8899524272

EXTRA: Bacillieradas!

Book title: Tramezzino. Author: Paolo Bacilieri. Publisher: Canicola. Pages: 36. Format: 30×42 cm. Price: 17 €. ISBN: 978-8899524272

EXTRA Bacilleradas!

Paolo Bacilieri, Dylan Dog #369 (with Ratiger, Giuseppe Montanari and Ernesto Grassani)

Extra Bacilleradas!

Paolo Bacilieri, Dylan Dog #369 (with Ratiger, Giuseppe Montanari and Ernesto Grassani)

Extra Bacilleradas!

Paolo Bacilieri, Dylan Dog #369 (with Ratiger, Giuseppe Montanari and Ernesto Grassani)

Cómic, arquitectura narrativa

Author: Enrique Bordes. Publisher: Catedra. Pages: 408. ISBN: 978-84-376-3687-0

Through a long-distance dialogue, cartoonists Paolo Bacilieri and Enrique Bordes list their 10 all-time-favourite titles, from Chris Ware to The Eternaut, where comics and architecture collide. Read full article here.

Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour in a quarantined Milan

Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Barona district, 8FQFC4PX+6Q

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milan San Cristoforo, 8FQFC4VF+G5

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milan San Cristoforo, 8FQFC4VF+G6

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milan San Cristoforo, 8FQFC4VF+V5

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milan San Cristoforo, 8FQFC4WC+7R

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan San Cristoforo sul Naviglio, 8FQFC4WW+7F

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan San Cristoforo sul Naviglio, 8FQFC4XV+5W

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan San Cristoforo sul Naviglio, 8FQFC4XV+6V

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazza Guglielmo Miani, 8FQFC5P3+VQ

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazza Guglielmo Miani, 8FQFC5P3+VX

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazza Guglielmo Miani, 8FQFC5Q3+3V

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Morivione district, 8FQFC5RR+H9

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Morivione district, 8FQFC5VQ+36

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Morivione district, 8FQFC5VQ+98

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Morivione district, 8FQFC5VW+G2

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Viale Tibaldi, Bocconi University, 8FQFC5WQ+82

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Viale Tibaldi, Bocconi University, 8FQFC5WQ+82

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazzale Lodi, 8FQFC6W6+V5

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazzale Lodi, 8FQFC6X6+36

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan San Siro zone, 8FQFF4CM+CJ

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazzale Brescia, 8FQFF4CV+5X

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazzale Brescia, 8FQFF4CV+5X

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazzale Segesta, 8FQFF4GP+6R

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazzale Segesta, 8FQFF4GP+6R

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Lotto Fieramilanocity, 8FQFF4HV+V9

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Sempione Park, 8FQFF5CF+V8

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Viale Buonarroti, 8FQFF5F4+93

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milano City Life, 8FQFF5F4+99

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milano City Life, 8FQFF5F6+87

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milano City Life, 8FQFF5F6+98

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Giardini Pubblici Indro Montanelli, 8FQFF5FX+6R

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milano City Life, 8FQFF5G4+97

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Sempione Park, 8FQFF5GH+Q6

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Chinatown district, 8FQFF5HF+HR

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Chinatown district, 8FQFF5HF+R6

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Chinatown district, 8FQFF5JF+F5

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Feltrinelli Foundation, 8FQFF5JJ+CV

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Chinatown district, 8FQFF5JJ+P5

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Library Of Trees, 8FQFF5MV+VW

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Viale Melchiorre Gioia, 8FQFF5MW+V2

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Viale Melchiorre Gioia, 8FQFF5MW+W3

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Palestro district, 8FQFF6C2+PX

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Porta Venezia district, 8FQFF6C4+74

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Ortica district, 8FQFF6CR+C7

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Città Studi district, 8FQFF6FF+8J

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Città Studi district, 8FQFF6FF+8J

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan

Città Studi district, 8FQFF6FG+9G

Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Città Studi district, 8FQFF6FG+9G

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Città Studi district, 8FQFF6GC+PC

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 8FQFF6HG+JJ

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Città Studi district, 8FQFF6HG+P7

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Città Studi district, 8FQFF6HG+P9

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Città Studi district, 8FQFF6JR+W4

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Città Studi district, 8FQFF6MC+PF

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Città Studi district, 8FQFF6MC+PG

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Loreto district, 8FQFF6P7+MW

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazzale Loreto, 8FQFF6P8+FF

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazzale Loreto, 8FQFF6P8+HJ

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Lambrate district, 8FQFF6PM+6V

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Lambrate district, 8FQFF6PP+4G

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Via Padova, 8FQFF6RF+96

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Via Padova, 8FQFF6RF+97

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Central Station, 8FQFF6V7+77

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Central Station, 8FQFF6V7+MJI

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazza Morbegno, 8FQFF6V8+5H

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazza Morbegno, 8FQFF6V8+7G

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazza Morbegno, 8FQFF6V8+7G

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Ripa di Porta Ticinese, 8FQFF52F+G9

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Ripa di Porta Ticinese, 8FQFF52G+VH

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Darsena del Naviglio, 8FQFF52H+XC

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Darsena del Naviglio, 8FQFF53F+PW

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Darsena del Naviglio, 8FQFF53G+M4

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Valsesia district, 8FQFF447+WH

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Forze Armate - Sella Nuova district, 8FQFF457+2M

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Forze Armate - Sella Nuova district, 8FQFF457+CH

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Forze Armate - Sella Nuova district, 8FQFF457+W4

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Forze Armate - Sella Nuova district, 8FQFF465+5J

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Forze Armate - Sella Nuova district, 8FQFF467+37X

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Magenta zone, 8FQFF598+JG

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Dergano district, 8FQFG52M+JQ

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Dergano district, 8FQFG53J+3H

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Dergano district, 8FQFG54G+35

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milano Bovisa station, 8FQFG525+PJ

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milano Bovisa station, 8FQFG525+QJ

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milano Bovisa station, 8FQFG525+VG

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Bovisa district, 8FQFG528+9V

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Piazza Giovanni Bausan, 8FQFG528+R4

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Greco district, 8FQFG626+VF

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Greco district, 8FQFG626+WM

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Greco district, 8FQFG636+27

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milano Bicocca, 8FQFG676+8V

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milano Bicocca, 8FQFG676+FG

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milano Bicocca, 8FQFG676+JX

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Maurizio Montagna goes on a photographic tour of coronavirus Milan Milano Bicocca, 8FQFG677+76

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The architectural photographer’s pictures, taken exclusively for Domus around the outer ring-road of the Italian city, capture the outskirts that we can no longer look at. Read full article here.

The telephones that made the history of design

1. Telettrophone, 1871 Who was the real inventor of the telephone? If you ask Americans, they will inevitably say, “Alexander Graham Bell”. However, according to Italians, it was Anronio Meucci, an Italian immigrant who, in 1871, founded his Telettrofono Company, and created the prototype of what you could call the first voice-communication apparatus – the telephone. However, we all know what happened: Meucci did not correctly patent his invention and lost first dibs on becoming the inventor of the telephone. A few years later, Alexander Graham Bell patented the invention, and the rest is history.

2. Graham Bell’s telephone, 1876 In the summer of 1876, Alexander Graham Bell astonished the people at the Philadelphia international exhibition with “his” invention, which he had patented the previous March: a ‘voice transmitting’ telegraph, which allowed to hold long-distance conversations thanks to electromagnetic technology.

3. Strowger Potbelly Candlestick, 1905 The following 20 years saw the beginning of the telephone industry as we know it, and the rise of its relevance. A new, great innovation came at the end of the 19th century, when a method for automatically selecting the telephone number of the receiver was invented. The inventor was Almon Strowger, the owner of a funeral home in Kansas City who had to solve a big problem: the lady telephone operator would divert his clients’ phone calls to her husband’s company, which was Strowger’s main competitor.  The first telephone to have an automatic telephone switch, the Candlestick Potbelly, came in 1905, but Strowger also invented the ‘upright’ design: telephones with the mouthpiece separated from the receiver were extremely popular up until the ‘30s.

4. Ericsson 1001 (1931) The first phone with a contemporary design only came in 1931, when engineer Johan Christian Bjerknes and artist and designer Jean Heiberg created the Ericsson 1001. The product was the result of a collaborative project between the Elektrisk Bureau in Oslo, Televerket from Sweden and Lars Magnus Ericsson. Ericsson 1001 is the first Bakelite phone, with an integral cradle, a built-on finger dial and a ringer that notifies incoming calls. The design of the phone was considered to be extremely innovative for the time, and it later spread throughout all Europe and inspired Henry Dreyfuss to create the famous Western Electric’s model 500.

5. Ericofon, 1949 After the Second World War, Ericsson’s Swedish designers were once again in charge of rethinking the design of the object ‘telephone’. The Ericofon is the first telephone to incorporate the dial and the handset into a single unit. It is now part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and it is known as the ‘Cobra telephone’, because it looks like a coiled snake, with its head up and ready to… answer a phone call.

6. Princess, 1959 Telephone design continued to evolve during the years of economic prosperity, but only in the ‘50s designers started to really experiment with shapes and colours, anticipating op art and the modernist style of the ‘60s. The emblem of the telephone design of that period is the Princess telephone, designed by Henry Dreyfuss. This compact telephone was designed to perfectly fit on an “woman’s bedside table”, as a better and more elegant alternative to the bulky and heavy Model 500.

7. Bigrigio, 1962 The Italian equivalent of the American Western Electric’s Model 500 and Ericsson 1001 is Siemens S62, the rotary phone that was deeply loved by three generations of Italians. The project for this telephone was created by Lino Saltini for Siemens. However, in the following years, also FATME, Italtel and Face Standard began producing different models of the Bigrigio. It was jokingly nicknamed ‘bigrigio’ (‘bi’ meaning ‘two’, ‘grigio’ meaning gray) because of the double tonality of gray of the plastic receiver and cradle.

8. Grillo, 1996 The same decade in which they launched the famous Bigrigio onto the market, Sit Siemens asked Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper to create a telephone with a revolutionary design: the Grillo (meaning ‘cricket’ in English). It was an innovative device, which subverted some of the most typical characteristics of the telephone: its foldable structure made it look nothing like a telephone, except for the wire. In 1967, the Grillo deservedly won a Compasso d’Oro.  

9. Motorola DynaTac 8000X, 1983-1989 Even though some of the landline phones on this list already were indicators of one’s social status (not everyone could afford to have a Grillo on their nightstand), the telephone only became a status symbol with the advent of the mobile phones. The idea of always being able to make and receive a phone call, no matter when and where, was perfectly in line with the ‘80s yuppie style, just like cocaine and stock market speculations. The DynaTac, the huge mobile phone that Gordon Gekko used in the 1987 film Wall Street was the perfect symbol of that time. Despite his steep price (in 1983, when it was first launched, it costed $4000) it was a total success. In a few years, more than 300.000 Americans decided to buy a cell phone, and Motorola’s ‘brick’ was the only choice.

10. Pulsar, 1985 80’s Italian youngsters learned to make phone calls on two different telephones: the Bigrigio at their grandma’s house, and the more modern-looking Pulsar at their parents’. The design of this telephone reminded everyone of certain 80’s cars, especially its vibrant burgundy version that was impossible to match with the furniture. However, the reason why it was thought to be better than the Bigrigio, was the numerical keypad, much more convenient and faster than the model S62’s rotary dial.

11. Autotelefono SIP, 1989 More than the bag phone or the DynaTac, the true Italian status symbol of the late ‘80s was the car phone. The “mobile radio transmitter for conversations”, later called ‘autotelefono’, was perfectly in line with the all-Italian aesthetics of the ‘pre-Mani pulite’ manager driving the Lancia Thelma and wearing Armani. The models of the late 80’s and early ‘90s were the protagonists of a few commercials that you can now find on YouTube. The most advanced car phones worked thanks to the Radio Telephone Mobile System, based on microwave radio waves and cells, which allowed to maintain the phone call, even during handover – the process of transferring an ongoing call from one channel to another.
 

12. Sirio, 1987 (production since 1990) Just a couple years after the Pulsar, another cosmos-inspired telephone was invented – the Sirio. This is maybe one of the most famous designs among the telephones sold by SIP (The Italian Society for Telephone Operations). It is still quite common to find this telephone (even though in its more modern versions) inside many Italian homes. Sirio’s lines were smoother, and anticipated the taste that people would have in the ‘90s, as well as some big changes in the Italian telephone technology that would happen during that decade: the DTMF telecommunication signaling system, direct distance dialing, and, most importantly, the first experiments on collective opinion applied to show business – televoting.

13. Motorola StarTAC, 1996 In the ‘90s, the miniaturization of mobile phones was exponential. Another Motorola telephone was leading the way, and it soon became another pricy status symbol – the StarTAC. First released on January 1996, it was the first flip mobile phone of all times. It represented a hitherto-unseen revolution in the field of mobile phone design and engineering. The StarTAC was the successor of the MicroTAC, a semi-clamshell mobile phone launched in 1989. It was one of the most successful phones of that period, with 60 million models sold.

14. Nokia 8110, 1996 While Motorola was riding the wave of success, creating lots of new cell phones, Finnish company Nokia was preparing to become extremely successful. In 1996, Nokia released the 8110, which was nicknamed Bananaphone for its bizarre shape. In this case, just like for Wall Street and the DynaTAC, the cinema contributed to turning this model into an icon: in a famous scene of the film Matrix, Morpheus calls Neo with his 8110. A few moments later, the camera shows the same mobile phone falling from a skyscraper – a scene that would make Netflix’s product placements pale in comparison. In 2018, Nokia presented a more modern, coloured and 4G version.

15. B&O BeoCom 6000, 1999 At the end of the ‘90s, while mobile phones were already revolutionizing the way we communicate with each other, house landlines were still going strong, and people were flaunting the most sophisticated designs in their living rooms. However, the object that everyone wanted was the cordless phone, which, in a nutshell, was a mobile phone you keep in the house. One of the most interesting cordless phones of the period is Bang & Olufsen’s BeoCom 6000, the first to fully employ DECT, a standard primarily used (even today) for creating cordless telephone systems. Its design, loved by many, looks a little antiquated: the lines and the style are clearly typical of the late ‘90s. It could easily match a Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, one of the few things designed by Jony Ive that aren’t believed to have left a mark on the history of design.
 

16. Nokia 3310, 2000  As the new millennium approached, and dot-com companies began to crash, the production of mobile phone experienced an exponential growth. The key-year is 2000, the year when the Nokia 3310 was released. Of course there are many iconic cell phones, but the 3310 is the emblem of mobile phone democratization. The Nokia 3310 had a great engineering quality, despite its relatively low price, and it had the reputation of being indestructible. Usually, when falling on the ground, it would ‘break’ into three pieces: the telephone, the rear cover and the battery. You only had to put the pieces back together, and the phone would start working again, as if nothing had happened.

17. RIM 957, the first Blackberry, 2000 In 2000, the first Blackberry was launched onto the marked as well. The Blackberry, which at the time still had the same name of the Canadian company that had invented and released it (RIM), became a global success, and paved the way for personal digital assistants, the first mobile phone aimed at working just like computers – sending and receiving email was one of the main objectives. The Blackberry is also the first mobile phone that sparked off the debate on the subject of dependence on modern communication tools: in America, people nicknamed it CrackBerry. It obviously referred to crack, the popular street drug, because the possibility of doing work-related stuff no matter where you were, allowed the typical American workaholic to get rid of a healthy work-life balance once and for all. Unfortunately, Blackberry mobile phones were soon supplanted by smartphones and iPhone due to RIM’s strategy error: counting on physical keyboards. 

18. Nokia 9210 Communicator, 2000 In 2000, Nokia released its first personal digital assistant, with a design that was as absurd as it was iconic, perfectly in line with the innovative Finnish inventions of that period. When closed, the 9210 Communicator looked like a regular phone. But then, when you rotated it by 90 degrees and opened it like a miniature laptop, you had a keyboard and a display that allowed you to comfortably check and send emails. Also in this case, cinematographic product placement played an important role: the 9110 is James Bond’s special cell phone in Tomorrow Never Dies.

19. Motorola Razr, 2004  The last real ‘cellphone’ with an iconic design before the advent of the smartphone revolution is the Motorola Razr, released in 2004 by the American company. Thin and stylish, starting from the ‘sharpness’ of the name of the model, the Razr was presented as a fashion phone designed for a rich elite (it was extremely expensive, $500). However, Motorola lowered the prices of the following models. In July 2016, the company had already managed to sell more than 50 million cell phones. The Motorola Razr came back in 2019 in a foldable smartphone version – a nostalgic yet at the same time innovative operation.

20. iPhone, 2007 The presentation of the iPhone in January 2007 and its launch in June of the same year contributed to making the first half of 2007 one of the most important moments in the history of mobile phones. We could write thousands of pages about the iPhone, its design, and the technological, cultural and social revolution that it brought about. It is impossible to summarize ten years of technological innovations in a single caption. So, we’ll only quote what Steve Jobs said in 2007, on the occasion of the presentation of the iPhone: “Well, today, we’re introducing three revolutionary products. The first one: is a widescreen iPod with touch controls.The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device. So, three things: a widescreen iPod with touch controls; a revolutionary mobile phone; and a breakthrough Internet communications device. An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone … Are you getting it? These are not three separate devices, this is one device, and we are calling it iPhone. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone, and here it is.”

21. HTC Dream, 2008 Also when it comes to Android, we could list a thousand of products, but we’ve decided to only talk about the HTC Dream, the first smartphone to use Google’s operating system. After the launch of the first iPhone, Android quickly changed its approach, and started using touch screens. Even though the first model still looks like a pre-smartphone mobile phone with a physical keyboard, it was a historically important smartphone, with an iconic design that anticipated some design elements (like the navigation keys) that would characterize Android’s UX language for quite some time. The HTC Dream is very important, especially because it shows that, as opposed to many companies like RIM and Microsoft, Google immediately understood the great importance and relevance of the iPhone. That’s the reason why, today, iOS and Android are the true protagonists in the mobile phone market.

From the invention that dates back to the late 19th century to mobile phones and the smartphone revolution: the history of a device that has connected people through memorable models. Read full article here.

Fiat Panda, the boxy Italian utilitarian car goes electric

Pandoro by Garage Italia

Garage Italia has reinterpreted the original model with new aesthetic and custom solutions, and a hundred percent electric engine, for a new limited series of five cars. Read full article here.

10 objects that are disappearing from our domestic landscape

The Grillo landline phone by Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper, 1965

Outdated by technological innovation, or just no longer matching the evolution of lifestyles, certain objects are still probably living in our houses, unnoticed. Read full article here.

2020, a nomadic summer: the new mythology of the camper van

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

Photo Fabio Petronilli

These mobile houses on four wheels, often converted from old vehicles, are the symbol of a different way of living – and spending the summer holidays between untouched landscapes and social isolation. In Italy, it is increasingly difficult to do it but it still happens, for example, in Sardinia. Here are the pictures. Read full article here.

Ten movies about architecture, selected by Adam Nathaniel Furman

I Am Love, Luca Guadagnino, 2009 The building in which this movie was shot, Villa Necchi Campiglio, catches the entire mood and the feelings of the characters that inhabit it and the atmosphere of their world, with all its resonances and sense of voluptuous loss. No other film is able to evocate the Milanese decadence so perfectly, finely set up in the spaces designed by Pietro Portaluppi at the beginning of the ‘30s.

Parasite, Bong Joon Ho, 2019 Best film at 2020 Oscars, the tragedy intertwining the private lives of two South-Corean families, takes shape in one of the most perfect comparisons between faux architectural sophistication and the pretensions and evil consequences of the privilege of upper class society.

Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock, 1954 The American masterpiece, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, is still today one of the greatest explorations of thrill and fear, excitement and uncanniness of proximity in urban environments, of course perfectly unravelled in an exquisite plot by the great director.

Beetlejuice, Tim Burton, 1988 Second movie by the director well-known for Gothic and fairy settings, Beetlejuice is a brilliant exposition of the myth of the haunted house and a fantastic take-down of architectural and social pretensions – all done in the most brilliantly stylish manner.

Ocean’s Thirteen, Steven Soderberg, 2007 George Clooney comes back for the third (and last) time in the shoes of Danny Ocean for the subtle crime comedy in which parametricism comes to the big screen via Las Vegas – perhaps the best and only place for it?

The Shining, Stanley Kubrick, 1980 This is the movie that has made all fin-de-siecle country hotels utterly terrifying to stay in. Based on the novel by Stephen King, more than a terror story it is an imaginative psychological thriller in which Jack Nicholson gave one of his best performances in a space, the Overlook Hotel, that became iconic. Have long empty hotel corridors ever felt the same since you first saw it?

High-Rise, Ben Wheatley, 2015 The life of a young doctor in a skyscraper in London in the middle 70s tells about the utopian dream of brutalism that translates into a megastructure the microcosm of society that lives in it, almost isolated from the city. Nevertheless the problems of a small society are the same as those of the society at large but, when compressed, they become more terrible... and behold, everything goes belly up. Blame the architect.

Russian Ark, Aleksandr Sokurov, 2002 Imaginary tale or time travel, this story by Sokurov takes place in one uninterrupted sequence “as if it was just a breathe”, thanks to a unique one-hour-and-a-half shot. But Russian Ark is also the metaphor for a national architectural treasure as the embodiment of a nation and its history: in this wonderfully dreamy film, by walking through the rooms and corridors of the Hermitage, all Russian history is gently and ever-so-elegantly unfurled before our eyes.

Le Mépris, Jean-Luc Godard, 1963 In the context of a movie based on the relationship between classicism and modernity, there could be no better match for Malaparte’s house than a surly Brigitte Bardot, sunbathing on its roof, climbing its steps, staring out of its windows.

Locke, Steven Knight, 2013 You never see a building in this film, as the main character is alone in a car the whole time, but the drama is all about a vast concrete pour he is responsible for, the base of a huge new building. In the unwinding of the plot, we follow this project in tense wonder, hearing in all technical details about how grilling and challenging such a task is to achieve, while our character races away to deal with a terrible personal dilemma.

The London-based architect, known for the freedom that can be read in his style, chooses ten movies in which spaces are relevant – old classics, pop references and some titbits for real film lovers. Read full article here.

Are the lights at San Siro going to be switched off forever?

Roberto Conte, San Siro, Milan, 2020. Photo Roberto Conte

What we are used to call the “Scala of football” could be destined to disappear. Roberto Conte photographs Milan’s stadium one last time for Domus. Read full article here.