A tradition of experimentation Danese

Graphis, Sep/Oct 2002 by Briatore, Virginio

In the mid-'50s, when the industrial boom was in full swing, Bruno Danese and Jacqueline Vodoz had one vision: to pursue a design education, wherein the search for meaning generates new objects, which in turn create new lifestyles. They created innovative products-small industrial editions of modern objects for the house and office made with the techniques and abilities of skilled craftsmen.

The combination of innovative materials (Danese is reputed for their experimentation with new materials), R&D, new production methods and imaginative designers created objects that were unique for their originality, poetics and aesthetics. They were true works of art in a variegated world of objects for the home and office. The collection also included educational children's toys and the Fatti a mano (trans. "handmade") series of limited, numbered editions.

In their headquarters on Piazza San Fedele in Milan, near the Duomo, the slogan "New forms of Italian craftsmanship" is written on the building. Danese and Vodoz established their role as the first 11 editors" of design objects. Danese is an anomaly in that they also conceive, develop and produce objects, unlike most manufacturers who only produce other people's projects. They collaborated with some of the most important designers who have become historical icons of '60s Italian design. From 1956 to 1963, they worked with ceramist, painter and sculptor Franco Meneguzzo; with ceramist/designer Angelo Mangiarotti; collaborated with the famous eclectic, artist-educator Bruno Munari, who passed away in 1998; and-until 1992-with the incomparable Enzo Mari. During the '80s the firm also worked with the likes of Achille Castiglione, Kuno Prey and Marco Ferreri.

"We were editors of concepts and projects," Bruno Danese says today, "and our shows were not held for the purpose of selling things. They were true cultural events. The product development, the design and its execution involved ourselves, the designers and the fabricators. We were all operating on the same level. Production and stock were left up to a select group of studios with whom we had established a dialogue and a spirit of partnership." What was innovative about this creative structure was how much the fabricators were involved in carrying out the designer's project, while the designers were controlling the quality of the final product. It was truly a collaborative process. Enlightened, farsighted "editors," almost patrons, they promoted creativity, not just production. Their products, as objects of art, piece by piece, formed the Danese Collection. When Danese and Vodoz began their enterprise in 1955, there was no design market as such. Their products, mostly desktop accessories, responded to new needs such as creating a comfortable environment for work. But Danese also offered new meanings, new ways of communicating, before design had reached its full industrial swing. Enzo Mari, one of the leading players in the so-called "experimental workshop" remembers: "When we started, there were no design boutiques. In Italy, no one even used the word `design.' Danese began working with Bruno Munari and myself, considering us as two artistic personalities. He managed to make our objectives come true, those that were intrinsic to our activity and formal research."

The story of the Danese company reached a turning point in 1992, when the brand was sold to the multinational corporation Steelcase/Strafor. Danese and Vodoz had planned to partake in an ambitious European cultural/business program, then promoted by Steelcase. But it soon came to an end because of disagreements about the initial guidelines. Since then, the JVBD Association (Jacqueline Vodoz Bruno Danese) was founded, with offices in Paris and Milan, in order to continue the didactic and cultural activities of Danese, utilizing the precious heritage of the collection which will soon be administered by the JVBD Foundation.

"In Paris we created the JVBD Association as a company archive, and the complete digital documentation of the collection is now in progress," Danese explains, "along with research projects and a library open to scholars and students. We loan objects for exhibitions, organize cultural events and publish international contemporary art catalogues." The brand, now out of the hands of Danese and Vodoz, has since passed to Cassina (1993), then to Alias and finally, in 1999, to Artemide, under the direction of Carlotta de Bevilacqua, sole director of today's Danese-Milan, and Artemide's art director, strategic marketing director and designer.

She was faced with the task of restructuring a "new-old" company while projecting 40 years of experiments into the future. "This is not an easy legacy to develop. The brand name has a value and a past to identify with. Danese has a historic background that communicates values that are both timely and timeless: experimentation, richness of materials and languages, and lasting but innovative products. These are the guidelines we've inherited and we want to develop them in a context of continuity and visibility, while responding to contemporary design issues and proposals."