| 6. Enzo Mari’s Autoprogettazione | 10 Things in the Slow and Steady Wins the Race Time Capsule for 2021 |
Despite an amoeba shaped 2021, with no clear edges to hold onto, we continue to countdown and share with you some of the items and ideas we would put in our time capsule for later generations to understand. For us they straddle the very specific space of the timely with the timeless; sometimes sublimely anachronistic, fundamentally classic, and are reflective of a value system we hold true to. Time capsules are important memory tools and reminders that the past and present hold the keys to the future.
Autoprogettazione translates into a combination of ‘self’ or ‘auto’ and ‘design’. Enzo Mari ‘understood that through making furniture, one would gain a better understanding of how that furniture is made, be proud of what one has made, and think critically about how furniture is generally made (and made from).’ Furthermore Mari himself gave permission for his designs from this landmark do-it-yourself book, to be part of a permanent feature in the social good organization CUCULA.org which exists to “promote solidarity-based initiatives, focusing on concrete images and products that intend to visualise new scopes for action and interactions.”
In 1974, the Italian designer Enzo Mari published 19 furniture designs that one could make by oneself in his book ‘Autoprogettazione?’, thereby creating a milestone in the history of design. As an alternative to Formalism and intended as a democratisation of design, with the ‘Autoprogettazione’ programme Enzo Mari created a provocative counter-proposal to the capitalist paradigm of mass consumption. Build furniture yourself, as you need it. That was the idea. Forty years later, he granted the CUCULA team rights to use, recreate, and develop the designs. In the CUCULA workshop, Enzo Mari’s ideas met those of young refugees, who set about creating new perspectives from their own backgrounds. (Via CUCULA.org)
