1968: Radical Italian Design

1968: Radical Italian Design, the newest project from Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari’s Toilet Paper in collaboration with the Deste Foundation in Athens, offers an unorthodox, kaleidoscopic walk through the Dakis Joannou collection of Italian Radical Design furniture. Led by avant-garde design firms such as Archizoom, Superstudio, Global Tools and 9999, Radical Design was firmly opposed to the ethics and, indeed, the very notion of “good design” or taste. Toilet Paper’s bold, mischievous interpretation of Joannou’s collection results in delightful, high-contrast photographs that merge the seductive lines of Radical Design furniture and objects with the curves of the modern-day nymphs cavorting among them.

Published as a board book and named after a year pivotal for architecture and design (and, of course, the world at large), 1968 is a collection of dreams and nightmares, an inspiring, eye-popping compendium of colourful, ironic objects and bodies. At once charmingly retro and alarmingly surreal, 1968 includes drawings by one of the Radical Design movement’s foremost architects, Alessandro Mendini.