This volume, which accompanies the great retrospective exhibition devoted to Enzo Mari and curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist (Milan Triennial, 17 October 2020 – 18 April 2021), celebrates the work and thought of Enzo Mari, one of the leading masters and theorists of Italian design. These are chiefly reconstructed through the constant dialogue he engaged in, over the years, with the curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Plans, sketches, unpublished archive material, essays and interviews illustrate over 60 years of work, tracing for the first time a systematic and exhaustive itinerary – articulated into 19 “research platforms” – that conveys Mari’s sensitivity as a designer, artist, critic and theoretician, along with the striking relevance of his thought.

According to Mari, design can only be regarded as such if it also transmits knowledge. His projects, which have withstood the test of time, have been conceived in such a way as to be sustainable – from a material as much as aesthetic perspective – and accessible to all.

As Hans Ulrich Obrist recalls, “For Enzo everything revolves around the object, and good design alone is destined to triumph”.

Alongside an in-depth monographic study and a complete list of works, the catalogue features numerous interviews and evocative contributions from internationally acclaimed designers and artists, whom the curator has invited to pay tribute to the oeuvre and figure of Enzo Mari through their works.