It was 1990 when Lumiere table lamp was born. Since then, it has accompanied us on a long and extraordinary journey. Years
which have gone by fast, in which the world has evolved and experienced momentous transformations. On the occasion of its
anniversary, this video project showcases the most important events of the last 30 years, which Lumiere has borne witness
to the changes, as a constantly current and relevant icon which has stood the test of time: true to itself yet constantly
evolving
Lumiere 30th
LUMIERE PASTILLES
LUMIERE Bulles
In Lumiere, the combination of two materials of different sensorial impact like glass and metal suggests a space not of
boundaries but of relations, where the opposites – emotion and technique – are able to meet.
In that space, Foscarini has constructed the originality of its language, and Lumiere has grown up over time, becoming a
true design icon.
Icons stand out for their adaptability, ready for renewal without altering their identity..
In this span of 30 years Lumiere has taken on many different colours and finishes, and today – in its full maturity – it
can dare to take on a new look, thanks to two historic glassblowing techniques that enhance the glossy white shade.
Lumiere 30th Bulles / Pastilles
The surface decoration of Lumiere becomes three-dimensional for the first time: the class remains the same, but takes on new character.
For the 30th anniversary, Lumiere Bulles e Lumiere Pastilles are being offered in a special edition of 1100 pieces, numbered
and signed by Rodolfo Dordoni.
In the Pastilles version – by means of blowing the incandescent paste into a special diamond-pattern mould – the glass displays
the classic faceted pattern (known as “ballotton”) which gives the surface a perceptible threedimensional texture.
The use of a mould with points, on the other hand, generates the glass of Lumiere Bulles, with a myriad of tiny air bubbles
encased between layers of glass.
For both versions, the base is in champagne-colour aluminium.
DETTAGLIO DI LUMIERE PASTILLES
Lumiere 30th provides warm, intense diffused light. It is a lamp that emanates refined elegance, on or off.
It is versatile and adapts to the widest range of settings in terms of style and taste, for both residential and contract applications.
“...l’idea di questo piccolo treppiedi con la fusione (di alluminio) e il vetro esprimeva, più che il disegno di una lampada, un concetto più generale: come mettere insieme due elementi che fossero la caratteristica dei prodotti futuri dell’azienzda. Questa fu, in pratica, l’intuizione.” — Rodolfo Dordoni, designer di Lumiere
A CONVERSATION WITH
Rodolfo Dordoni
With an array of activities ranging from architecture, to product design, artistic direction, and the setting up of showrooms and exhibitions, Rodolfo Dordoni has put his name to some of the most significant and famous Italian design projects, including Lumiere.
When and how did the Lumiere project begin (the spark, the people involved at the start)?
It began 25 years ago, so recalling all the people involved calls for an eff ort of memory that isn’t easy at my age, perhaps. I can tell you about the context, though. It was a period in which I had started working with Foscarini on a sort of corporate overhaul. They had called me in to coordinate things, which could mean a sort of art direction of the new collection, because they wanted to change the company’s approach. Foscarini was a pseudo-Muranese business, in the sense that its home was Murano, but its mentality was not exclusively rooted there. We began to work on this concept: to conserve the company’s identity (that of its origins, therefore Murano and glass) while diff erentiating it from the attitudes of the other Murano-based fi rms (i.e. furnaces, blown glass), trying to add technological details to the product to give it character, making Foscarini into a “lighting” company, more than a producer of blown glass. This was the guiding concept for the Foscarini of the future, at the time.
Where was Lumiere invented? What led to its form-function (design constraints, the materials: blown glass and aluminium)?
Based on the guideline I have just described, we began to imagine and design products during our meetings. At one of those meetings – I think we were Anni Luce — Exhibition Lumiere’s journey through 25 years of history 015 Designer — Rodolfo Dordoni still in the old Murano headquarters – I made a sketch on a piece of paper, a very small drawing, it must have been about 2 x 4 cm: this glass hat with a tripod, just to convey the idea of combining glass and casting, because the casting of aluminium was a very contemporary, new idea at the time. So this little tripod with the casting and the glass wasn’t so much the design of a lamp as a drawing of a more general concept: “how to put together two elements that would represent the characteristics of the company’s future products”. In practice, that was the intuition.
/1990
The new world
/1991
Diff erent balances, new colors
/1992
Europe Europe, Balkans Balkans
/1993
Israel and PLO mutual recognition
/1994
Mandela for President
/1995
dot.com, Net Art
/1996
Dolly
/1997
Kyoto, Hong Kong, Bilbao
/1998
ECB
/1999
“A diff erent world is possibile”
/2000
The end of the millennium
/2001
9/11
/2002
"€uroland"
/2003
Architecture “friendly alien”
/2004
2.0
/2005
Makers Signals
/2006
“Tweet On” You Crazy Diamond
/2007
Subprime
/2008
Obama
/2009
Crowdfunding
/2010
Shanghai
/2012
The “God Particle”
/2013
Biennale “Encyclopedic”
/2014
Fundamentalisms
/2015
Charlie, Tsipras et al.
/2016
Trump, Brexit, avanti popolo?
/2017
#MeToo
/2018
Morandi Morandi
/2019
Fridays for Future
/2020
Lockdown
/1990
The new world
After the fall of the Berlin Wall negotiations began for the political reunifi cation of East and West Germany. On 11th February, Nelson Mandela was released from prison after 28 years’ incarceration. On 16th February, the artist Keith Haring died of AIDS. On 19th February, the fi rst version of Photoshop, a photo-editing software, was launched, and quickly became the industry standard. On 26th March, Giuseppe Tornatore’s fi lm entitled Nuovo Cinema Paradiso won an Oscar for Best foreign fi lm. On 2nd August, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The United States, with operation Desert Shield, started the fi rst Gulf War, also referred to as “The fi rst war in the global village” owing to its media coverage. On 18th August, production of 45 rpm vinyl records stopped. On 3rd October, the reunifi cation of the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany was offi cial. On 8th December, director and painter Tadeusz Kantor died. On 9th December Lech Walesa, leader of Solidarnosc, was elected president of the Republic of Poland. On 10th December Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize “for his leading role in the peace process which now characterises important parts of the international community”. Jasper Morrison designed Universal System for Cappellini, Masanori Umeda designed the Getsuen armchair for Edra, and Rodolfo Dordoni designed Lumiere for Foscarini
/1991
Diff erent balances, new colors
1st February saw the end of Apartheid in South Africa. On 7th March, thousands of Albanian refugees (approximately 27 thousands) arrived in the port of Brindisi. In April Linus Torvalds began to develop the Linux kernel, the open-source operating system. The fi rst issue of the Frieze magazine was published in the summer. On 20th June, Berlin became the new capital of united Germany. On 25th June, Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from Yugoslavia, which then broke up. On 1st July, the end of the Warsaw Pact was declared, the fi rst phone call with the GSM mobile phone system was made and the Colors magazine – founded by Tibor Kalman and Oliviero Toscarini for Benetton – was launched. 6th August saw the birth of the World Wide Web, with the fi rst website to go on-line by British IT expert, Timothy John Berners-Lee. On 19th August, there was a coup d’etat in Moscow attempting to overthrow Gorbachev and his reform process so the CPSU could claim back power. On 19th September, the Similaun Mummy, also informally known as Ötzi, was found. On 24th September, Nirvana released Nevermind, on 19th November Achtung Baby was released by U2. Freddy Mercury died of AIDS on 24th November. On 25th December Gorbachev, weakened politically, resigned and Russia was born (during the night of 25th to 26th December, the red fl ag with the scythe and hammer has been hauled down by the Kremlin). Enzo Mari designed the Museo clothes hook for Zanotta, Paolo Rizzatto designed the Young Lady armchair for Alias, Tom Dixon the S Chair for Cappellini.
/1992
Europe Europe, Balkans Balkans
The Maastricht treaty was signed on 7th February and it transformed the EEC into the European Community (subsequently the European Union) and established a single currency in 1999. Photographer Luigi Ghirri died on 14th February. Politician and entrepreneur Mario Chiesa was arrested in Milan on 17th February on corruption charges, with a kickback of 7 million Lire: this marked the start of the Mani Pulite investigation which culminated in what was referred to as Tangentopoli. Pravda, the offi cial newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, stopped being published by decree of Boris Yeltsin on 14th March. The same month, civil war broke out in former Yugoslavia. On 23rd May and 19th July judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and their police protection escort were killed by the Mafi a in the massacres of Capaci and via D’Amelio.The Reina Sofi a Museum was inaugurated in Madrid on 10th September. On 2nd October the Post Human exhibition-event organised by curator Jeff rey Deitch opened in Rivoli Castle, in Turin. On 31st October, after 359 years of being condemned “to silence”, the Catholic Church turned towards vindicating Galileo Galilei. On 3rd November Bill Clinton won the presidential elections in the United States. On 3rd December the fi rst ever SMS text message was sent from a computer to a mobile phone on the GSM network: the message was “MERRY CHRISTMAS”. Rodolfo D
/1993
Israel and PLO mutual recognition
On 1st January Czechoslovakia divided itself in the Czech Republic and the Slovakian Republic. On 3rd January Bush and Yeltsin signed START II (STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty) renewing their agreements on nuclear disarmament. On 5th January, an oil tanker ran aground, spilling 80,000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea: this event is remembered as the Shetland oil tanker disaster. On 15th January, Mafi a boss Totò Riina was arrested after being in hiding for 23 years. On 11th June, the XLV Art Biennale opened in Venice: Hans Haacke tore up the fl oor of the German pavilion and won the Golden Lion, making spectators walk through the “ruins of the country”. Between May and July, car bombs exploded in Florence, Milan and Rome against cultural heritage, a new strategy implemented by the Mafi a. On 9th September, after a series of secret negotiations in Norway, the offi cial agreement of the mutual recognition of Israel and the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) was signed. On 30th November, Steven Spielberg’s fi lm Schindler’s List was released. On 8th December, the Global positioning system (GPS) was completed and the twenty-fourth Navstar satellite was concurrently launched. 22nd December saw the release of Jonathan Demme’s fi lm, Philadelphia, which addressed the delicate topic of AIDS, which reached culmination point in the 1990s in terms of epidemic spread and media coverage. Vico Magistretti designed the Tadao bed for Flou, Gae Aulenti designed the Tour table for Fontana Arte, Stefano Giovannoni designed the Merdolino toilet brush and holder for Alessi.
/1994
Mandela for President
On 18th January, entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi founded Forza Italia and two months later, on 28th March, he won the elections in Italy and became Prime Minister. On 8th April, after years of restoration work, the Sistine Chapel reopened to the public. The artist Alighiero Boetti died on 24th April, as did Formula 1 racing driver Ayrton Senna on 1st May, in a tragic accident at the San Marino Grand Prix. The Euro Tunnel across the Channel was inaugurated on 6th May. Nelson Mandela won the elections in South Africa on 10th May. The fi lm Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino was released on 12th May. The fi rst genetically modifi ed food, the Flavr Savr tomato, was approved for sale across the U.S.A. on 18th May. Between 6th April and mid-July, Rwanda was centre stage for a bloody genocide against the Tutsi. On 23rd August, the album Grace was released by Jeff Buckley. On 31st August, the IRA (Irish Republican Army) announced its “complete cessation of military operations” in Ireland. On 10th December, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin “for their eff orts at creating peace in the Middle East”. On 20th December in Japan, Frank Sinatra performed in his last concert in front of a crowd of 100,000 people. Alessandro Mendini designed the Anna G. corkscrew for Alessi, Ron Arad deigned the Bookworm bookcase for Kartell and the Victoria & Albert armchairs for Moroso, Jean Nouvel the Less table for Unifor.
/1995
dot.com, Net Art
On 1st January Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the European Union. On 13th March, the Dogme 95 fi lm-making movement Manifesto was signed in Copenhagen. On 26th March, the Schengen agreements came into force, setting up a borderless area between the member states of the European Union. On 30th April, the Venice Biennale celebrated its 100th anniversary. On 8th August, the Netscape listing on the stock exchange marked the beginning of the “dot.com era” or New Economy. The Windows 95 operating system, the fi rst one in the Windows family with graphic interface, was presented by Microsoft on 24th August. The eBay on-line bidding website was opened on 3rd September. From the Geneva Observatory, Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz announced the discovery of the fi rst extrasolar planet: 51 Pegasi b, on 6th October, with a mass approximately half that of Jupiter. On 1st November, the artist Damien Hirst won the Turner Prize. Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on 4th November by a right-wing extremist colonist against the peace process. In December, in an anonymous e-mail intended for the artist Vuk Cosic, the term Net Art – J8?g#|\;Net. Art{-^s1 – “created by a malfunctioning piece of software” appeared for the fi rst time in an almost illegible form and was then implemented. Alberto Meda designed the Highframe seats for Alias, Javier Mariscal designed the Alessandra armchairs for Moroso.
/1996
Dolly
Artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres died on 9th January. A fi re destroyed the La Fenice theatre in Venice on 29th January. The Maison Européenne de la Photographie opened in Paris in February. The magazine Wallpaper was born in London. In March “Mad cow disease” broke out, and British authorities and the World Health Organisation admitted that Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) could in fact be transmitted to humans. The fi rst edition of Manifesta was inaugurated in Rotterdam on 9th June. On 5th July, Dolly the sheep was born. She was the fi rst cloned mammal. The Ars Electronica Center, the “Museum of the future” opened in Linz (Austria) on 2nd September. On 5th November Bill Clinton was reelected President of the USA. Fidel Castro met the Pope on 19th November in the Vatican. Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska won the Nobel Prize for literature on 7th December. Riccardo Blumer designed the Laleggera chair for Alias, Vico Magistretti designed the Maui chair for Kartell, Marcel Wanders designed the Knotted Chair armchair for Cappellini.
/1997
Kyoto, Hong Kong, Bilbao
Chinese leader Deng Xiao-Ping died on 19th February. On 1st May, the Labour Party won the elections in Great Britain and Tony Blair became prime minister. On 11th May the Deep Blue computer by IBM beat the world chess champion Garry Kasparov. On 1st July sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the People’s Republic of China but it is to retain its special status until 2047. On 15th July Gianni Versace was assassinated in Miami. Lady Diana died in a car crash in Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris on 31st August. The “Sensation” exhibition opened on 18th September at the Royal Academy of Art in London, consecrating Young British Art. The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao designed by Frank O. Gehry, was inaugurated on 18th October. On 1st November the movie Titanic by James Cameron was launched. Dario Fo won the Nobel Prize for literature on 10th December. The Kyoto protocol was drawn up on 11th December to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which was not ratifi ed by the United States. The Big Brother television show opened the “reality show” era, while the Harry Potter fantasy novel phenomenon exploded. Lazzarini and Pickering designed the Isotropo system for Acierno, Stefano Giovannoni designed the Bombo stool for Magis, Marc Sadler designed the Hal armchair for Cassina.
/1998
ECB
On 21st January Pope Giovanni Paolo II met Fidel Castro in Cuba. In March Slobodan Milosevic launched a military off ensive in Kosovo. At the same time, the fi rst ever mp3 players were launched at the CeBIT fair in Hannover. Philosopher Jean-François Lyotard died on 21st April. National Sorry Day was set up in Australia on 26th May to remember and commemorate the mistreatment of the country’s indigenous population. The European Central Bank was set up on 1st June, and Peter Weir’s fi lm, The Truman Show, was released. On 2nd August, after winning the Giro d’Italia, Marco Pantani also won the Tour de France in a historic double title. The fi rst iMac was launched on 15th August, with the ironic claim: “Sorry, no beige”. The Google search engine opened on 4th September. The Smart city-car – only 2,5 metres long – was launched on 1st October. José Saramago won the Nobel Prize for literature on 10th December. On 17th December, the United Nations set up the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. Roberto Barbieri designed the Lia chair for Zanotta, the Campana brothers designed the Vermelha armchair for Edra, Mario Bellini designed the Bellini Chair for Heller, Shigeru Ban designed the Carta system for Cappellini.
/1999
“A diff erent world is possibile”
From 1st January, the Euro became offi cially the single European currency. Film director Stanley Kubrick died on 7th March (his last fi lm, Eyes Wide Shut, was released posthumously). Roberto Benigni’s fi lm, La vita è bella won three Oscars on 21st March. On 24th March NATO started air raids against Milošević’s Yugoslavia (operation Allied Force, until 10th June). The editor Giulio Einaudi died on 5th April. Norman Foster’s Reichstag was inaugurated in Berlin on 19th April. On 1st June Napster, the fi le sharing platform, was launched. Harald Szeemann directed his fi rst Venice Biennale Art Exhibition, which opened on 13th June. The No Global movement was launched in Seattle on 30th November, on the occasion of protests against the Ministerial Conference of the WTO. Restoration work on Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper was completed after 22 years’ work. Maurizio Cattelan produced La Nona Ora. The research group led by Giacomo Rizzolatti confi rmed the existence of Mirror Neurons in humans. Günter Grass won the Nobel Prize for literature on 10th December. On 20th December Macau was transferred to China and, like Hong Kong, it is to retain its special status for 50 years (until 2049). On 31st December Boris Yeltsin resigned and handed over the Russian presidency ad interim to Vladimir Putin. Jasper Morrison designed the Air chair for Magis, Giovanni Levanti designed the Xito sofa for Campeggi, Achille Castiglioni and Ferruccio Laviani designed the 40/80 armchair for Moroso, Philippe Starck designed the La Marie chair for Kartell.
/2000
The end of the millennium
The New Economy bubble burst on 10th March (the Nasdaq drops by 9%). The Tate Modern was inaugurated in London on 12th May. The Catholic church divulged the third secret of Fatima on 13th May. The completion of the human genome (DNA) was announced on 26th June concurrently by the President of the U.S.A. Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The LGTB World Pride took place in Rome from 1st until 9th July, with over 500 thousand participants. The Millennium Summit was held at the Headquarters of the United Nations from 6th to 8th September, with 189 participants including heads of state and members of the government. The Guggenheim Museum in New York dedicated an exhibition to Giorgio Armani on 20th October. On 7th November George W. Bush Jr was made President of the United States winning over Al Gore by a narrow margin. Yoshioka Tokujin designed the Pop armchair, Francesco Binfarè designed the Flap sofa for Edra, Fabio Novembre designed the Org table and Erwan & Ronan Bourroullec designed the Spring sofas for Cappellini.
/2001
9/11
The free encyclopaedia Wikipedia was launched on 15th January. On 1st April, the Netherlands were the fi rst country in the world to make same-sex marriage legal. On 10th June, the second Venice Biennale directed by Harald Szeemann opened, entitled “Plateau of Humankind”. From 19th to 22nd July, during the G8 world summit in Genoa (Italy), the city was the setting for violent confrontations between protestors and the police force, and poor management on the part of the latter meant they were accused of having “suspended democracy”. The Jewish Museum of Berlin designed by Daniel Libeskind (completed in 1999) was inaugurated on 9th September. On 11th September al-Qaeda attacked the Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon and the White House with four hijacked airliners. On 7th October, the United States attacked Afghanistan, fl anked by Great Britain, in an operation referred to as Operation Enduring Freedom. On 23rd October Apple launched the iPod digital music player. In December Argentina declared the default state. Dominic Wilcox designed the War Bowl, Paolo Ulian designed the Print fl ip fl ops for Sensi & C., Prospero Rasulo designed the Tempo coff ee table for Zanotta.
/2002
€uroland
The Euro offi cially became the legal currency in the 12 countries of the economic and monetary union on 1st January (which had been the offi cial currency for three years already). The Blackberry 5810 smartphone was released on 4th March. From 2nd April until 10th May Israeli forces besieged the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem during the second Intifada. On 5th May Jacques Chirac was re-elected President of the French Republic. dOCUMENTA 11, directed by Okwui Enwezor, opened in Kassel on 8th June to improve relations between the West and the rest of the world. The Alexandrina Library was inaugurated in Alexandria in Egypt on 16th October in memory of the anciently destroyed legendary library. On 27th October, the candidate of the labour Party Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also known as Lula was elected President of Brazil. The Mart museum of modern and contemporary art opened in Rovereto on 15th December. Pierre Charpin designed the Adorno storage unit for Zanotta.
/2003
Architecture “friendly alien”
On 11th February the Beijing government offi cially announced the SARS – severe acute respiratory syndrome – epidemic. On 20th March the Second Gulf War began with an attack on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq by a multinational coalition led by the USA. On 5th May Linkedin, the professional social network, was set up. On 23rd June Second Life, the virtual online digital world, was set up. On 29th August the VoIP Skype instant messaging service was set up. On 27th September in Graz, European Capital of Culture, opened the Kunsthaus Graz, designed by architects Peter Cook and Colin Fournier and called “friendly alien”. On 16th October Olafur Eliasson installed The Weather Project in the Turbine Hall at London’s Tate Modern. On 26th November the supersonic aircraft Concorde made its last fl ight. On 14th December Venice’s La Fenice theatre reopened with a concert directed by Riccardo Muti. The New York MoMA began collecting objects built with Rapid Manufacturing. Konstantin Grcic designed the One chair for Magis, Toyo Ito the Ripple bench for Horm.
/2004
2.0
On 4th January the Spirit space probe transmitted the fi rst images of Mars to the NASA centre in Pasadena in California. On 23rd January photographer Helmut Newton died, the fi rst of a trio of photography masters who died that year (on 3rd August Henri Cartier Bresson and 1st October Richard Avedon). On 4th February the Facebook social network was set up. On 10th February the photo sharing site Flickr was set up. On 11th March al-Qaeda launched a series of co-ordinated attacks on Madrid trains. On 14th March Vladimir Putin was re-elected President of the Russian Federation. On July 1st actor Marlon Brando died. On 22nd July the Mostar bridge was rebuilt after being destroyed in 1993, one of the symbol events of the war that took place in the former Yugoslavia. On 9th October Jacques Derrida, father of deconstruction, died. On 29th October a Treaty was signed in Rome which adopted a European Constitution. On 2nd November George W. Bush Jr was re-elected President of the USA. On 11th November Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died. On 20th November MoMA re-opened after restoration work in New York. On 26th December a devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean caused havoc in a huge area of South-East Asia. JoeVelluto designed the KingPlate for Pandora and Paolo Ulian the Finger Biscuit for Ferrero.
/2005
Makers Signals
On 9th January Abu Mazen was elected successor to Yasser Arafat in Palestine becoming the fi rst democratically elected Palestinian President. On 16th February the Kyoto protocol on toxic gases was implemented and ratifi ed by 141 nations but not the USA. On 2nd April Pope John Paul II died and was succeeded by Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. On 23rd April YouTube was set up. At 8.27 pm the fi rst account was registered and the fi rst video uploaded. On 10th May the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin was inaugurated. In May François Pinault bought Venice’s Palazzo Grassi and handed it over to Tadao Ando for restoration work. On 7th July four bomb explosions on diff erent London buses and trains shook the city. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility in a video broadcast to Qatar television station Al Jazeera. On 23rd July an Al Qaeda attack on Sharm el-Sheikh led to fi ve explosions at hotels and the market. Israel off ered Egypt help. On 22nd November Angela Merkel was elected German Chancellor. The RepRap project was set up in England to make printers capable of reproducing three-dimensional elements at low cost. The so-called open-source 3D printer revolution had been born. The Arduino circuit board project was set up in Ivrea. Editor Tim O’Reilly published Make magazine, the birth of the Makers community. Massimiliano Adami designed the Fossili Moderni container and Peter Marigold the Split Box Shelves bookcase, both self-produced, Gaetano Pesce La Michetta sofas for Meritalia.
/2006
“Tweet On” You Crazy Diamond
On 24th January Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad restarted the country’s nuclear research programme. 27th January was the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and was marked by a concert in Salzburg, his home town. In March the social networking service Twitter was born. The fi rst Maker Faire was held at San Mateo County Event Center in California on 22nd and 23rd April. On 10th May Giorgio Napolitano was elected President of the Italian Republic. On 20th June Musée du quai Branly was inaugurated in Paris prompting a debate over the dividing line between art and culture, the defi nition of primitive art and equality of representation for all peoples of the world. On 7th July Syd Barrett, legendary founder of Pink Floyd, died. On 7th October, Putin’s birthday, journalist Anna Politkovskaja was killed in Moscow. On 12th October Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel Prize for literature. On 27th October Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black came out. On 30th December ex-dictator Saddam Hussein was condemned to death for genocide and crimes against humanity in Iraq. Hella Jongerius designed The Worker Chair armchair for Vitra .
/2007
Subprime
On 1st January Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union. On 9th January Steve Jobs presented the fi rst iPhone. On 6th March philosopher and sociologist Jean Baudrillard died. On 16th March China recognised the right to private property except for land which remained property of the state. In April Leo Messi scored a goal at Getafe which reproduced Maradona’s legendary 1986 goal against England. On 6th May Nicolas Sarkozy won the presidential elections in France. On 10th June artist Malick Sidibé won the lifetime achievement Leon d’Oro at the Venice Biennale. On 26th June Tony Blair stood down as Prime Minister of Great Britain after 11 years and was replaced by Gordon Brown. On 4th July the new Fiat 500 was presented, 50 years after the fi rst model. The American subprime mortgage crisis exploded in summer. On 13th December the Lisbon Treaty was ratifi ed replacing the European Union and European Community treaties. Martino Gamper made a tribute to Gio Ponti for Nilufar, Giovanni Levanti designed the Gobbalunga sofa for Campeggi, Stefano Giovannoni the First chair for Magis.
/2008
Obama
On 8th February Polaroid announced the closure of its US, Mexico and Holland plants and all production ceased at the end of 2009. On 24th February Fidel Castro stood down and was succeeded by his brother Raul. On 2nd July Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian journalist and politician kidnapped in 2002 by FARC rebels, was freed. On August 8th the Beijing Olympics opened. On 10th September the CERN Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator was activated in Geneva. On 15th September the corporate bank Lehman Brothers went bankrupt becoming the symbol of the fi nancial crisis that engulfs the world economy. On 5th November Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. Piero Lissoni designed the KoohI-Noor coff ee table for Glas Italia and Konstantin Grcic the Myto chair for Plank.
/2009
Crowdfunding
On 3rd January Israeli land attacks on the Gaza strip were launched. On 21st January London’s Design Museum opened a retrospective exhibition of the work of stylist Hussein Chalayan. On 28th April Kickstarter, the online crowdfunding platform, was set up. In May Barack Obama announced American health system reform. On 25th May North Korea claimed to have carried out nuclear tests. On 22nd June Kodak announced a defi nitive end to Kodachrome fi lm manufacture (the last fi lm was developed on 30th December 2010). On 25th June Michael Jackson died. On 9th October Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. On 10th December James Cameron’s fi lm Avatar came out. The fi rst Maker Faire Africa took place in Accra, Ghana. Fabio Novembre designed 100 Piazze trays for Driade, Scholten & Baijings made Vegetables and Nicolas Le Moigne designed the Vesta tables for NextLevel Galerie
/2010
Shanghai
On 4th January in Dubai Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world, was inaugurated. On 27th January Apple presented the iPad tablet. On 8th April the USA and Russia renewed the START II agreement on nuclear disarmament with a new 30% reduction in atomic weapons. On 14th April the eruption of the Eyjafj öll volcano in Iceland lead to an ash cloud which completely closed down airspace in most of Europe. On 1st May Expo 2010 in Shanghai began, the most expensive and best attended ever. In the meantime Greece was on the verge of bankruptcy: on 9th May a 700 billion Euro fund was created to stop the crisis spreading to other Euro nations. On 28th May Museo MAXXI was inaugurated in Rome. On 2nd September Benjamin Netanyahu and Abu Mazen renewed peace talks between Israel and Palestine. On 6th October Instagram, the instant photo sharing social network, was set up. On 28th November the WikiLeaks site leaked over 250 thousand diplomatic State Department papers including more than 100,000 marked ‘secret’ or ‘confi dential’. On 18th December in Tunisia an extreme gesture of protest by Mohamed Bouazizi triggered off the so-called Jasmine Revolution. Studio Formafantasma self-produced the Autarchia series, Matteo Ragni the W-Eye eyewear collection, Thomas Heatherwick designed the Spun armchair for Magis, Alejandro Aravena the Chairless chair for Vitra and Luca Nichetto the Robo chair for Off ecct.
/2012
The “God Particle”
On 4th March Vladimir Putin was re-elected in Russia. On 13th March Enciclopedia Britannica was made online only after 244 years. On 4th July CERN scientists discovered the existence of the Higgs boson. On 24th July London’s Tate Modern inaugurated the “These associations” live performance by artist Tino Sehgal at the Turbine Hall. On 29th October Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast of America at speeds of 144 km an hour. New York was evacuated en masse for the fi rst time since 11th September 2001. On 6th November presidential elections in the United States of America gave Barack Obama a second term at the White House. On 21st December the video of PSY rap single Gangnam Style was seen 1 billion times on YouTube. Ferruccio Laviani designed W(hole) bedside table for Fratelli Boffi and Nendo Object Dependencies for Specimen Editions.
/2013
Biennale “Encyclopedic”
On 11th February Benedict XVI stood down as Pope, the fi rst to do so voluntarily since Celestine V in 1294. He was succeeded by Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio elected on 13th March who took the name Francis. On 25th May Don Pino Puglisi was beatifi ed in Palermo, the fi rst case of a martyr killed by the mafi a. On 1st June the Venice Art Biennial directed by Massimiliano Gioni opened with the title “Il Palazzo Enciclopedico”. On 3rd July a military coup d’etat in Egypt brought AbdalFattah al-Sisi to power. President Mohamed Morsi was placed under house arrest. On 29th October the Marmaray tunnel under the Bosphorus was opened in Istanbul, the fi rst undersea tunnel linking two continents, Europe and Asia. On 13th November a Francis Bacon triptych called ‘Three Studies of Lucian Freud’ sold by auction at 142.4 million dollars becoming the most expensive work of art of all time. On 5th December former South African President Nelson Mandela died at the age of 95. Giorgia Zanellato and Daniele Bortotto designed the Acqua Alta series for Rubelli and Konstantin Grcic the Traffi c series for Magis.
/2014
Fundamentalisms
On 21st January Fiat S.p.A. bought the remaining 41.5% of shares in the Chrysler Group thus obtaining total control of this US company and making it the seventh largest car manufacturer in the world. On 28th February Russia invaded the Crimean peninsula, an autonomous region in Ukraine. On 7th June the Venice Architecture Biennial directed by Rem Koolhaas and entitled “Fundamentals” opened. On 8th June Spanish Rafael Nadal won his ninth Roland Garros title becoming the second most successful tennis player in the history of grand slam. On 29th June the Caliphate of Syria and the Levant was set up in Iraq with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as caliph founding ISIS which declared soverignty over Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Kuwait, Cyprus and Cilicia. On 13th July Germany won its fourth Football World Cup title and the fi rst since re-unifi cation. On 23rd November the fi rst Italian woman astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti, began her space voyage: she will stay for 200 days, making it the longest for an astronaut woman Tomás Alonso designed the PS 2014 container collections for Ikea.
/2015
Charlie, Tsipras and others
On 7th January in Paris an attack on the offi ces of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo led to 12 deaths including a number of famous French cartoonists (Charb, Georges Wolinski, Philippe Honoré, Cabu, Tignous) and economist Bernard Maris. On 25th January Alexīs Tsipras won the elections in Greece: he will handle the Greek crisis until an agreement with international creditors signed on 13th July. From 5th to 8th March a number of archaeological sites in Iraq were destroyed by ISIS including Palmyra. On 18th March an attack took place at the Bardo Museum in Tunisia. On 20th July the United States brought its Cuban embargo to an end after 54 years. On 23rd July Planet Kepler452b was discovered, the most similar to the Earth ever found. On 10th September Homo Naledi was discovered in South Africa. On 28th September NASA declared that it had found water on Mars. On 31st October Expo 2015 closed in Milan. On 12th and 13th November in Beirut and Paris terrorist attacks claimed by ISIS caused 43 and 130 deaths respectively and hundreds of injuries. On 12th December Cop21 reached a global agreement on climate change and greenhouse gases in Paris. 2015 was the year of the highest numbers of migrants since World War Two with more than 1 million refugees coming to Europe. Gabriele and Oscar Buratti designed the Saen table for Alias and Eugeni Quitllet the Dream’AIR chair for Kartell.
/2016
2016 Trump, Brexit, avanti popolo?
On 6 January a nuclear test in North Korea caused an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1, prompting protests from the international community. On 12 January David Bowie passed away. On 11 February the first experimental detection of gravitational waves was announced. Umberto Eco died on 20 February. 21 March was the day of the historic visit to Cuba by US President Barack Obama: the last one had been Calvin Coolidge in 1928. A few days later (25 March), the Rolling Stones became the first foreign rock band to perform on the island. On 31 March Zaha Hadid died. On 2 April, after a 20-year hiatus, the 21 st Milan Triennale was opened, with the title "21st Century: Design After Design”. On 22 April the musician Prince passed away. On 28 May the 15 th Venice Architecture Biennale, “Reporting from the Front" was opened, directed by Alejandro Aravena. On 23 June the United Kingdom chose to leave the European Union, with the Brexit referendum. On 14 July, on the Promenade des Anglais, a terroristic attach took place in Nice, claimed by ISIS, with over 80 dead and 200 wounded. On 24 August a strong earthquake struck central Italy. 1 September marked the launch of the new Chinese social network TikTok, a platform for short videos that has become one of the most popular in the world. On 8 November Donald Trump won the presidential election in the United States. On 27 November Fidel Castro died. Nendo presents 50 Manga Chairs for Friedman Benda, Christien Meindertsma designs Acoustic Fur (Really, Kvadrat), acquired by MoMA New York, Piero Lissoni creates the Piuma chair for Kartell, and Konstantin Grcic designs the Props series in sheet metal for Cassina.
/2017
#MeToo
The British art critic, writer and painter John Berger died on 2 January, and on 9 January the Polish philosopher and sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, theorist of the "liquid society", also passed away. In April the Apple Park was opened in Cupertino, California, designed by Norman Foster. On 7 May Emanuel Macron won the presidential election in France. For its 14° edition, documenta opened for the first time two cities: Athens (8 April) and Kassel (10 June): a decision that took on strong political overtones from the outset. On 10 June Munster Sculpture Project opened: the artist Gregor Schneider presented the installation N. SCHMIDT at the LWL- Museum für Kunst und Kultur. On 14 June a fire destroyed the Grenfell Tower in London. 20 July marked the end of the Battle of Mosul and the gradual decline of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. In September, the hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated Puerto Rico. On 15 October a “tweet” by the actress Alyssa Milano triggered the #MeToo movement, indicated by Time Magazine as "person of the year 2017". On 27 October Catalunya declared its independence from Spain, triggering a sweeping political and institutional crisis. On 11 November the Louvre Abu Dhabi designed by Jean Nouvel opened its doors. On 15 November the Christie’s auction house sold the most expensive work of art in history, the Salvator Mundi attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, for the record sum of 450 million dollars. Formafantasma beings the Ore Streams project, a multiyear study of recycling of electronic waste, for NGV Australia and the Milan Triennale; Ferruccio Laviani designs D/Vision for Boffi, Giulio Iacchetti the Meda sofa for Internoitaliano.
/2018
Morandi Morandi
On 24 January the magazine Cell announced the first cloning of primates (the macaques Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua) successful done in China. On 7 March Balkrishna Doshi was the first Indian architect to win the Pritzker Prize. On 14 March the scientist Stephen Hawking died. On 18 March Vladimir Putin won the presidential election in Russia by a landslide, with 76.6%, entering his fourth term. On 24 March, over 900 cities around the world took part in the March for Our Lives against mass shootings and firearms in the United States. On 26 May the 16 th Venice Architecture Biennale opened: the Vatican took part for the first time with its own pavilion. On 7 September Greta Thunberg announced a strike every Friday to support the Paris Agreement on climate change: this was the start of the Fridays For Future movement. On 14 August the Morandi Bridge in Genoa collapsed. On 5 October a work by Banksy, “Girl with Balloon”, self-destructed a few moments after having been sold by Sotheby's London for one million pounds. On 8 October the Special Report SR15 of IPCC warned that global warming could reach the threshold of +1.5 degrees already in 2030, unless “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society". 23 October saw the opening of the world’s longest sea bridge: the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge. On 26 November, the Argentine designer and philosopher Tomás Maldonado died. Buro BELÉN presents the Sun+ collection, and Kosuke Araki the Anima table set made with food waste and Urushi lacquer (both acquired by MoMA New York); Francisco Gomez Paz self-produces the Eutopia chair.
/2019
Fridays for Future
Alessandro Mendini died on 18 February. On 1 March the 22nd Milan Triennale opened, with the title Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival, curated by Paola Antonelli. On 10 March Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed a few minutes after take-off, the second such episode in less than one year involving a Boeing 737 MAX 8: the model was then banned. On 15 March the Hong Kong protests began, and the first Fridays for Future global demonstration took place around the world: both movements continued with growing intensity throughout the entire year. On 10 April the first image of a black hole (M87) is released. On 15 April in Paris, a major fire destroyed the cathedral of Notre-Dame, causing the roof and the spire to collapse. With the performance Sun & Sea (Marina), the Lithuanian pavilion won the Leone d’Oro at the 58th Venice Art Biennale. Jeff Koons became the most expensive living artist: on 15 May his steel Rabbit was sold by Christie’s New York for 91 million dollars. In June the most widespread forest fires in two decades broke out in Australia, causing the death of over 1 billion wild animals. On 21 October MoMA New York reopened with a new addition designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. 31 December was the day of the first official case of the virus SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China. 2019 concluded the warmest decade in history since the start of systematic global temperature measurement. Naoto Fukasawa designs Gacha Autonomous Shuttle Bus (Sensible4 for MUJI), StudioKlass creates the Touch Down Unit office furnishings for Unifor, and Philippe Starck in collaboration with Autodesk designs the A.I. Chair for Kartell.
/2020
Lockdown
Alessandro Mendini died on 18 February. On 1 March the 22nd Milan Triennale opened, with the title Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival, curated by Paola Antonelli. On 10 March Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed a few minutes after take-off, the second such episode in less than one year involving a Boeing 737 MAX 8: the model was then banned. On 15 March the Hong Kong protests began, and the first Fridays for Future global demonstration took place around the world: both movements continued with growing intensity throughout the entire year. On 10 April the first image of a black hole (M87) is released. On 15 April in Paris, a major fire destroyed the cathedral of Notre-Dame, causing the roof and the spire to collapse. With the performance Sun & Sea (Marina), the Lithuanian pavilion won the Leone d’Oro at the 58th Venice Art Biennale. Jeff Koons became the most expensive living artist: on 15 May his steel Rabbit was sold by Christie’s New York for 91 million dollars. In June the most widespread forest fires in two decades broke out in Australia, causing the death of over 1 billion wild animals. On 21 October MoMA New York reopened with a new addition designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. 31 December was the day of the first official case of the virus SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China. 2019 concluded the warmest decade in history since the start of systematic global temperature measurement. Naoto Fukasawa designs Gacha Autonomous Shuttle Bus (Sensible4 for MUJI), StudioKlass creates the Touch Down Unit office furnishings for Unifor, and Philippe Starck in collaboration with Autodesk designs the A.I. Chair for Kartell.