design history mashup_ bruno munari the explorer

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Bruno Munari the Explorer

Bruno Munari was an Italian, more specifically a Milanese, whochose to be a Futurist and is remembered as a designer. The precedingpronouns are all valid descriptions yet Munari was ultimately an explorerand expressed his respect for human imagination as the motivation forprogress through research, industrial design, and graphic work. Hisindividual contributions to society, from initial ideas to concrete executions,sit harmoniously within the perpetually evolving account of collectivedesign history.

Bruno Munari was born in Milan, Italy, on October 24th, 1907, justaround the explosion of modernist movements. The first Futurist manifestowas produced by Italian writer and theorist Felippe Marinetti in late 1908,solidifying the progressive movement characterized by raging speed andintense dynamism. Marinetti’s violently expressive poetry is easilycomparable with the typographically significant poem, “Un coup de des”,produced by French poet Stephane Mallarme in 1897. Mallarme wassatisfied with his execution because it did not push “far enough forward toshock, yet far enough forward to open people’s eyes” which contrasts greatlywith Marinetti’s successfully shocking and purely Futurist work. (Hollis 37) Bruno Munari participated mainly in Futurism and reflected the movement’senergy, dynamism, and autonomy in his work but with a subtle, lessaggressive tone like Mallarme’s poetry. A non-purist, Munari also exploredearly Surrealism and Constructivism, giving himself creative flexibility.

What is this blog about?Rather than viewing history as the linearprogress of civilizations or chronicles of“great men,” we will explore alternativeapproaches, having short, tempestuousaffairs with historical designers andmovements that allow us to “give birth” tonew work. Our mascot is Kid Eternity, the1940s comic book character who couldsummon dead heroes to help him fight evil.(Image above from the 1990s version of KidEternity showing the kid with beat hero NealCassady, by Ann Nocenti and Sean Philips,DC Comics Sept 1993.)

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The momentum of 20th century Modernism contributed greatly to the diversematerials and techniques used by Munari but the cohesiveness of his creativeendeavors resulted from his grasp on his own intrinsic fixations andlighthearted nature.

Though Bruno Munari was born in Milan, he spent his childhood in theItalian countryside, where he was able to cultivate and preserve his intuitiveinterest in machines, objects, and nature. Removed from Milan’s busyexchanges of industrial materials and intellectual conversation, a youngMunari built a mobile structure with friends that floated along the localriver, propelled by a wooden wheel of a water mill. Munari later wroteabout this “Great Machine”, “ that might have been built by Robinson Crusoehimself”, and proudly retells his fascination with the workings of the wheelalongside the beauty of the surrounding landscape. His childhood interestsand the essence of untainted imagination motivated him from many angles,which solidified his work. (Munari)

Munari defined machines as “movable parts fixed together” toproduce a result and this generalization allowed him to use the term whendiscussing objects. In 1933, he began building a series of “uselessmachines” from modest materials that figuratively pulled the abstract formsout of a Kadinsky painting and into a true atmosphere.(Munari) They were to


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Joseph Wilborn

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* Playtime Hustler *

be machines without purpose, functioning as concrete shapes interactingunpredictably with each other, giving viewers a sense of time and place. Hedid not get much national praise at the time because the shift in Fascism inthe 1920’s had the public and critics of Italy focused on the NovecentoItaliano Movement and when comically describing the reaction of hisfriends, mostly Futurists, Munari said, “everyone laughed” at his uselessmachines, even those he ”most admired for the energy they put into theirwork.”(Munari) This rejection did not keep the well-calculated mobilesfrom being a critical part in the mechanical movement, which later joinedwith the Kinetic Art Movement, because they communicated the delicacy ofa system of equilibrium.

Over the span of Munari’s profession obsessive research withtemporary fixations left him with a plethora of elaborate conclusions abouteverything from circles to squares, posters to children and clocks to faces. Inthe 1960’s, Munari explored his interest “to know what bamboo means to theJapanese, how they grow it, use it, work it, eat it.” The bamboo, heconcluded, was a beautiful material because its’ natural, yet very precise,form and the Japanese produced commendable crafts with it because theyused it “according to its inherent nature”. With this concept overhead,Munari wanted to apply the natural construction of excellent form seen in thebamboo to a lamp, a modern functional object. He settled on mere stockingsand tubing to construct it and in search of knowledge of light fixtures, hewent to a lamp factory with his materials and requested help, alreadyunderstanding that manufacturers usually have “fixations” that “imposelimitations on themselves.” Eventually, he was able to get the necessaryinformation from the company to experiment with lamp making. The lampsproduced from this process became concrete forms, emerging from theelasticity of the stocking, the tension of metal rings, and gravity. As aproduct, the lamp could be shipped in a flat box and pulled out at itsdestination to grow into its final form before the buyer’s eyes. This finalcharacteristic of the lamp is a small detail of many that spreads creativethinking to various types of people. This specified account illustrates thecreative journey of Munari’s endless interests as they each evolved from athought to a reflective object in society. (Munari)


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Munari described a child as “trying to understand the world he isliving in”, “groping his way ahead from one experience to the next.( Munari93 ) . He believed that adults couldn’t always communicate with childrenbecause adults are sometimes older in vain. Munari’s disappointment withthis societal issue inspired him to make several toys and books that nurturedthe conservation of children’s “creative and elastic mentality.” (Tanchis) Hisaward winning bendable monkey and wire form Flexy, created in the 1960’s,proved that minimal material and context were important when designing forthe innocent mind of a child. Munari felt that “study should be made of theseinstruments that take the form of playthings but which, in reality, liberate”oneself. (Tanchis)

As for books, Munari argued that children were far less interestedin fantastical stories of princes and princesses than they were in simplestories about animals and plants. Munari saw a distinct difference betweenfantasy and creativity in that fantasy cannot be thought of in practical terms.Munari created children’s books with basic storylines and large coloredilllustrations “drawn with clarity and precision.”(Munari) “The Zoo” and“The ABC Book” are good examples of a basic Munari book that giveschildren clear images of the subjects as concrete objects instead of


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conceptual settings. One of Munari’s most imaginative children’s books is“The Circus in The Mist” which stimulates a visual progression throughpages of semi-translucent paper, to a climatic circus of colorful constructionpapers with well planned circles cut throughout.

Meticulous attention was given to each side of every page so thatevery layout would provide an image that was different from the last withremnants of the forms that created them. This would allow the hole through apage to act like the sun in one instance then a clown’s ball in the next. Prior


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Posted by Jelisa at 8:00 AM

to making “The Circus in The Mist”, in 1968, Munari had experimented withpaper and created a few “pre-books” for children who were to young to readto themselves. These books gave control to the youngest of children to beinvolved in the “reading” of a book through their “sensory apparatus.” Theytell a story that can’t be written but one that is “visual, sonorous, tactile,thermal and physical.” (Tanchis) The early introduction of a wordless bookto children was meant to prepare them for “the book”, which to Munaricould be seen as a machine of culture and knowledge, so that they understandthe surprises and enjoyment of education.

Bruno Munari explored life, people, and objects for most of the

20th century, with motives independent from political and social institutions.He was able to find a convenient balance between being an individual andbeing part of a group as he participated in the intellectual exchanges ofmovements around him while still focusing on his specific personalpassions. The development of collective design depends on strongindividual development and Munari exemplifies how one can creategreatness for society and for self at the same time.

Works Cited:

Hollis, Richard. Graphic Design: A Concise History. New York : Thames &Hudson , 2002.

Tanchis , Aldo. Bruno Munari. Cambridge: Idea Books Edizoni, 1987.

Munari, Bruno. Design as Art. Penguin Books Ltd., 1971.

Bruno Munari was an inspiration for the menu I designed for 360 Primo, anItalian cafe in central Austin. I didn't want to pull from the Munari's finalproducts but rather from his design philosophy. I allowed myself to playwith different types of paper and materials in order to create something thatis uninhibited, much like the way Munari explored with materials. The basicshape in the menu is a square with a central circle that drills through eachpage was inspired by the crisp simple shapes that Munari favored over busyoverwhelming compositions. I think it is the modesty of my menu paired withthe hard lined shapes that successfully carry the spirit of Bruno Munari.

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l in k s t o t h is p o s t

Anonymous said...Thank you.

September 26, 2009 at 4:17 AM


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design history mashup_ bruno munari the explorer

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