Andrea Branzi

1938 Florenz



Andrea Branzi studied architecture in his home town Florence. In 1966 Andrea Branzi joined forces there with Paolo Deganello, Gilberto Corretti and Massimo Morozzi to found Archizoom Associati, a firm named after the British group of architects known as Archigram and the journal "Zoom".
Archizoom is part of the Radical Design movement in Italy. Its members developed radical plans such as "Wind City" (1969) and "No-Stop City" (1970), to show, among other things, that extreme radicalism achieves just the opposite of what it sets out to do by becoming anti-rational. At the same time Archizoom opposed Good Design, designing furniture in the anti-Design style, including "Safari", a set of sofa and chairs, and the "San Remo" (both 1968 for Poltronova) palm frond lamp.
One of Archizoom's leading thinkers, Andrea Branzi exerted a formative influence on Italian design. Andrea Branzi was concerned with the language of objects rather than finding the right style but rather with the language of objects. In the 1970s he also dealt with theoretical issues as editor of "Casabella" magazine.
In 1973 Andrea Branzi opened a design studio in Milan. In the mid-1970s Branzi took part in Riccardo Dalisi's didactic project Global Tools. In 1977 Andrea Branzi was a co-organizer with Michele de Lucchi and Paola Navone of the exhibition "Il Disegno Italiano degli anni 50" (1950s Italian Design) in Naviglio, which reclassified postwar Italian design and made an enormous impact on 1980s design. In 1979 Andrea Branzi showed work with Studio Alchimia. In 1982 Andrea Branzi designed the "Century" sofa and ceramics for Memphis. In 1985 Branzi designed the "Animali Domestici" furniture range with backs made of pieces cut from branches for Zanotta.
In 1987 Andrea Branzi was awarded the Compasso d'Oro Speciale for his life's work as a designer and theorist.