The Italian designer Enzo Mari, who passed away in 2020, left a profound mark on the history of design. His career is being celebrated at the Design Museum in London in an exhibition running until September 8, 2024.

A pioneer of post-war design, Enzo Mari shook up the design world for nearly sixty years. His singular and remarkable career certainly warranted an exhibition. Produced by the Milan Triennale, which presented it in 2020, just after the maestro's death at the age of 88, this exhibition was conceived by Hans Ulrich Obrist, a friend of the designer and artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries, as well as by Francesca Giacomelli, Enzo Mari's assistant, curator, and researcher. This combined expertise was essential to curating this broad retrospective, which encompasses the many facets of Mari's work, including his activities as a designer, artist, teacher, critic, and theorist. The exhibition features over 300 pieces by Mari, most of which have never been seen in England. Among the furniture, conceptual installations, graphic works such as his Nature Series, and design pieces like his injection-molded plastic perpetual calendars, visitors will discover or rediscover his books and games designed for children. Indeed, Enzo Mari believed that the needs of the youngest should be considered by design, just as much as those of adults.

Convinced that play was "the necessary activity for discovering one's potential and learning about the world," the Italian designer also explored this universe. After observing his children playing, he decided to design new toys and games. Some of these creations have become famous and form the highlights of the exhibition. Among them is "16 Animals," a wooden puzzle designed in the late 1950s, composed of the silhouettes of 16 animals, including a camel, an elephant, and a kangaroo. This project was so popular that sixteen years later, Mari designed another version of the game for the Milanese manufacturer Danese: "16 Fish," featuring silhouettes of fish, seals, an octopus, and other marine animals and aquatic creatures.
Another aspect of his career highlighted at the exhibition is the sustainable dimension of his design. Decidedly ahead of his time, and quite radical for his era, the designer notably expressed this commitment through the booklet *Autoprogettazione* (Self-Design). In this work, readers could discover a manual for building a chair and a table using only planks and nails. This data was free and accessible to everyone. Once again, Mari demonstrated his avant-garde spirit, anticipating the concept of open source.
Innovative approaches, but also uncompromising stances and subversive opinions, led Enzo Mari to be perceived and described in his time as "the conscience of design," explains the museum team. And with good reason: his position was that of an activist, calling for greater social responsibility in design as well as access to knowledge. A message that, today, seems as relevant as ever.

“ENZO MARI” THE DESIGN MUSEUM
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