Enzo Mari

Enzo Mari (born 1932) is a noted Italian modernist and furniture designer artist. He is inspired by the idealism of the arts and crafts movement, and his political views as a communist. Mari was born in Novara, Italy and studied at the Brera Academy in Milan, Italy from 1952 to 1956. In the 1960s, he published a series of books, including "The Apple and the Butterfly," a wordless book of paintings depicting the story of a caterpillar and an apple. In the 1970s, he founded the Nuova Tendenza art movement as a professor at Società Umanitaria, also in Milan. Also in that decade, he designed the Sof Sof chair and the "Box" chair. In 1974, Enzo Mari made the book Autoprogettazione, which deals with the DIY construction of furniture. In the 1980s, he designed the modernist Tonietta chair. Mari has taught at the University of Parma (Parma), the Accademia Carrara (Carrara), the Polytechnic of Milan and ISIA (Florence), the Hochschule der Künste (Berlin), and the "Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst" in Vienna. He has several works exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art ( New York ) . He has had recent retrospective exhibitions in Turin, Italy, and a major presentation of his work in "adhocracy" show, during the first Istanbul Design Biennale.