Design from the Alps. Tyrol South Tyrol Trentino 1920-2020

With works by
Carlo Abarth, Reinhold Adolf, Aero Caproni, Aero Caproni CCC, Aeromere, Aicad Lizard, Amaro Alpino, Monica Armani, Augusta, Luciano Baldessari, Baldessari & Baldessari, Othmar Barth, Franz Bauman, Patrizia Bertolini, Bivacco fisso Apollonio, Walter Bosse, Broschek, Gianni Caproni, Jasmine Castagnaro, Christian Bartenbach, William D’Alessandro, Debiasi Sandri, Ellinor Delugan / Hirschfeld, Fortunato Depero, Marco Dessì, DMAA (Delugan Meissl Associated Architects), Dante Donegani, Durst, Eisenkeil, Johann Emo Enrich, Ewo, Joachim Falser, Robert Fliri, Forst, Hans Fritz, Frumat, Martino Gamper, Sergio Giovanazzi, Erich Gottein, Matthias Gruber, Anton Hofer, Clemens Holzmeister, Hussl, Peter Huta, Oliver Irschitz, Marcello Jori, Georg Juen, Moritz Kessler, Kneissl, La Sportiva, Lama Bolzano, Lancia Viberti Iveco, Laverda, Leitner, Giovanni Lorenzi, Lupo Burtscher, Maia (Modello Avanzato di Intelligenza Artificiale), Nina Mair, Mariano Dallapè, Sebastian Mariner, Wenter Marini, Giancarlo Maroni, Miki Martinek, Maurizio Martinelli, Luca Martorano, Viktor Matic, Siegfried Mazagg, Angiolo Mazzoni, MM Design, Dario Montagni, Oswald Oberhuber, Officine Brevetti Radi, Helmuth Ohnmacht, Liviana Osti, Paganella, Michelangelo Perghem Gelmi, Arrigo Perini, Gianni Pettena, Walter Pichler, Plank, Reinhard Plank, Gino Pollini, Matthias Pötz, Wilhelm Nicolaus Prachensky, Kuno Prey, Prinoth, Rolf Eugen Rehfeld, Riedel, Armando Ronca, Rossin, Rotaliana, Roy Ski, Salewa, Sarner, Scac, Schneider Rappel, Riccardo Schweizer, Guido Segalla, Sevi , Danilo Silvestrin, Benno Simma, Francesco Sommacal, Ettore Sottsass jr., Ettore Sottsass sr., Star T, Robert Maria Stieg, Wilhelm Stigler, Erwin Stricker, Stubai, Swarovsky , Swarovsky Optik, Techno Alpin, Harry Thaler, Thun, Matteo Thun, Sebastiano Tonelli, Tyrolit, Unda, UpSens, Lois Welzenbacher, Wetscher, Hans Peter Zangerl, Marco Zanini, Christian Zanzotti, Zilla, Josef Zotti, Zuegg

Curated by
Claudio Larcher, Massimo Martignoni, Ursula Schnitzer

A production by Kunst Meran/Merano Arte with NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Free University of Bolzano.
Curated by Claudio Larcher, Massimo Martignoni, Ursula Schnitzer
Graphic design: Antonino Benincasa
The first comprehensive review of the production and culture of modern design in a dynamic cross-border European region.

DESIGN FROM THE ALPS is the story of the fascinating adventure of design in this Alpine area, a natural bridge that connects northern and southern Europe and therefore possesses a surprising ability to absorb the most advanced instances of modern design. Geographically located at the centre of a formidable intersection of trajectories that, from Munich to Venice, Vienna to Milan, has in many ways shaped the very profile of design between the 20th and 21st centuries; the area between South Tyrol, Tyrol and Trentino in this sense becomes an unexpected laboratory of both technical and formal research and development.
Meticulous historical research, conducted with the latest methodological principles within a vast number of archive and documentary samples (referring to the work of individual designers, company sources, public and private collections), has permitted a catalogue to be produced for DESIGN FROM THE ALPS that consists of some 100 indispensable items, from furniture elements to cameras, from packaging and food products to experiments in the aeronautical and car & motorcycle fields, through to industrial graphics, toys, clothing and sports equipment.

Between 1919 and 1945, in the first phase of DESIGN FROM THE ALPS, the emerging characters were the secessionist echoes, the experimentalisms of the second Futurism, the connections with the avant-garde tendencies of Bauhaus and Rationalism, the genius of the numerous overlooked authors who grew up in the “genius loci”, exploiting and elaborating in new terms the suggestions provided by the mountainous nature of the region with its ancient and powerful memories of the trades of building, foodstuffs and crafts. 
After the Second World War, it was instead the ability to keep pace with international technological progress to highlight an effective operating strategy that mainly involved the food industry, mechanical engineering and cableway installations. From the Sixties onwards, moreover, it was the idea of exchange and comparison that moved local designers, able to find their creative dimension in the major European centres. This vision now continues and strengthens today with the elimination of distances and the rediscovery of local traditions as a saving and regenerating force. All of this rich interweaving represents the true story of DESIGN FROM THE ALPS. 
The protagonists, the supporting cast, the rediscovered authors, the discoveries and the surprises: DESIGN FROM THE ALPS tells of the collective work, sometimes performed in parallel, sometimes not, of the numerous voices that, with their works and research, fashioned the design landscape that forms the background to the entire exhibition. There are the leading names such as Fortunato Depero, capable of profoundly renovating the entire Italian scene from his base in Rovereto, or Anton Hofer, who specialised in textiles and furniture, a former student of Kolo Moser in Vienna. 
To these can be added the standing patrol of architects and designers active in the initial post-war period, some of the very highest level, from Luciano Baldessari to Adalberto Libera, Gino Pollini – who in 1929 exhibited a pioneering “electric apartment” in Bolzano – Lois Welzenbacher and Clemens Holzmeister. The family bond of Ettore Sottsass – Senior and Junior – constituted a state of affairs both unusual and unique, with Ettore Sottsass Jr, who was born in Innsbruck, grew up in Trento and worked in Milan, in some ways emblematic of all the designers born in these lands.

There are also many names that gradually appear in the decades closer to us, from Dario Montagni to Othmar Barth, Gianni Pettena, Matteo Thun, Marco Zanini, Benno Simma, Baldessari & Baldessari, Kuno Prey and Dante Donegani, right up to the latest important voices in contemporary design such as Martino Gamper, originally from Merano but now active internationally. These are just some of the top names, but all of them – some working anonymously under the wing of corporations, others truly unexpected in the guise of designers, such as the great American writer Ezra Pound who lived in Merano for many years – constitute the real surprise of DESIGN FROM THE ALPS.
Under the direction of Kunst Meran/Merano Arte as co-ordinator and manager of the entire project, the exhibition and catalogue of DESIGN FROM THE ALPS draws on an interdisciplinary collaboration between NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti) and the Free University of Bozen, with the aim of providing scientific support, the involvement of the creative potential of young designers in the form of the exhibition and catalogue and the advertising material and, finally, the representation and photography of the products. 
The exhibition and catalogue of DESIGN FROM THE ALPS are curated by Claudio Larcher, Massimo Martignoni and Ursula Schnitzer, assisted by a large number of specialists and researchers who have been invited to draw up profiles and texts on the various topics.