Design is a field without boundaries and Andrea Branzi has tackled all manners of design ventures – be it architectural, urban, industrial or even cultural. Branzi is a master of all trades, but he started out his career with architecture. In 1966 Branzi graduated with an incredible thesis project known as Supermarket – Luna Park, the concept and design of which he implemented in his Luna Park II at the Pompidou Center in Paris. Right after graduation, Andrea Branzi, along with a group of talented peers formed the Archizoom Associati a design firm that handled conceptualizations of anti-designs. Branzi is a pioneer in theoretic as well as practicing architectural dynamics. His work has been widely recognized and appreciated. Further, we’ll look at some of Branzi’s distinguished achievements.
The Archizoom Associati
Founded in 1966, this design studio was the base of operations for Andrea Branzi and his associates. Their work defied the mainstream designs of that time by being queer and anti-semantic. Archizoom collaborated with Superstudio to organize its very first exhibition called ‘Superarchitettura’ and ‘Super Architettura 2’ in 1966 and 1967 respectively, which consisted of avant-garde furniture design by Andrea Branzi himself. With this studio, Branzi designed several projects in architecture and large-scale urban design. Their aesthetic endeavored to consistently Pop and Kistch while emulating dynamic visuals.
Superarchitettura
The Superarchitettura started as a series of exhibitions that embraced the concept of “Anti-design as the Sinthesis” which was basically a collaboration of Socrates, Thesis and Antithesis ideologies from the history and a basic part of the Radical Movement. Andrea Branzi emulated this theory into this work by introducing colorful projections and created prototypes based on the movement. These designs were then manufactured by the company Poltronova.
Domus Academy
The Domus Academy is a private school of design located in Milan, Italy which was founded in 1983. Andrea Branzi was one of the co-founders of this academy, which was the very first international post-graduate school of design. This school offered degrees and courses in fashion design, industrial design and design management.
Published Works Of Andrea Branzi
Branzi himself has been quoted to ‘never’ reading design magazines, but the list of his academic credentials is amazingly comprehensive.
Inspired by history and biographies, Branzi has penned several books, including ‘The Hot House’ and ‘Learning from Milan.’ Branzi has also collaborated with several design magazines such as Domus, Casabella and Interni.
The Launch of ‘Trees’
In 2008, Branzi launched a series of shelf designs and console tables named ‘Trees.’ These pieces were featured in the Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris. Though very minimalist in physique, these ‘Trees’ certainly looked inspired by the organic ambiance of nature itself. Financial Times quoted the exhibition to be a “highly romantic” personification of contemporary minimalist design.
Conclusion
Andrea Branzi’s work is exceptional in its thoughtfulness and inspiring in its making. His designs have highly researched concepts and his work has been quite revolutionary.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superarchitettura
http://www.friedmanbenda.com/artists