The 1970s were a time of transition and speed, in which many movements overlapped. In the period of protest, disco dance, hallucinogenic drugs, the Italian family evolves, in 1974 they went to the polls for the referendum on divorce and the houses changed accordingly. Spaces are reduced, much more time is spent in front of the television and the furniture adapts to the new customs.
Floor lamps are produced, because the dining room and the living room are now part of a single environment, and the armchairs become much more comfortable to watch television more comfortably and for a long time. The new “living cells” are born, inspired by those of designer Joe Colombo who in 1969 created Visiona ’69 for the Bayer integrated cell defined by different ” functional stations “: the Night-Cell block (bed, wardrobe and bathroom), the Kitchen- Box (kitchen and dining room) and the Central-Living (living room).
In 1972, Italian design was consecrated to the eyes of the world with the exhibition “ Italy: the new domestic landscape ” at the MoMA in New York, the first exhibition dedicated to a country’s contemporary design. We begin to talk about “emotional” design while industrial design proposes fragmentary and provocative languages while remaining faithful in the design field to the pragmatic values of the industrial production process. The objects are ironic, colorful, super decorated.
These are years in which there is an air of contestation and, at the same time, of reflection. Artists meet, discuss, talk about architecture, cinema and art but never about politics. At the end of the 60s some historical groups of architecture and design were born such as Archizoom and the Florentine Superstudio in ’66 and Alchimia in ’76 which will give life to important projects in the field of design, interior design and architecture.