Autoprogettazione is Enzo Mari's legendary 1974 manual for self-made furniture — a quiet act of design radicalism that asked ordinary people to build their own tables and chairs from standard timber cuts, and to think critically about what they owned and why.
About This Book
First compiled by the Duchamp Centre and printed for an exhibition at the Galleria Milano in 1974, Autoprogettazione — loosely translated as "self-design" — remains one of the most politically charged documents in twentieth-century Italian design. Mari's premise was disarmingly simple: provide clear construction drawings for basic furniture using ready-made timber cuts, and in doing so, shift the consumer's relationship to objects from passive acquisition to active understanding. The exercise was never purely utilitarian. It was a challenge to interrogate industrial production and the values embedded in designed goods. This Edizioni Corraini reprint makes that challenge available again to a new generation of designers, makers, and critical thinkers.
Key Features
- 64 pages of furniture construction drawings and Mari's foundational design philosophy
- Author: Enzo Mari
- Originally compiled by the Duchamp Centre for the exhibition at the Galleria Milano, 1974
- Published by Edizioni Corraini
What You'll Discover
- How Mari used accessible timber construction as a vehicle for critical thinking about industrial design and consumer culture
- Simple, buildable furniture designs drawn from standard ready-made cuts of timber — intended for direct use, not just study
- The philosophy of "sincerity in the project" — Mari's argument that understanding how something is made changes how we value it
- Why a 64-page pamphlet produced for a Milan gallery exhibition became one of the most cited texts in design education worldwide
About the Author
Enzo Mari was one of the most consequential Italian designers and design theorists of the twentieth century, known for his uncompromising critique of consumerism and his commitment to design as a social and intellectual practice. Autoprogettazione stands as one of his most enduring provocations — a work that collapsed the boundary between designer and user.
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 64
- Dimensions: 23 x 16 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9788887942675
- Publisher: Edizioni Corraini
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Designers and students interested in design theory, DIY furniture making, Italian design history, and the politics of objects — and anyone who has ever questioned what it means to own something well-designed.