Concept
The exhibition “Renato Forti 1923 – 2015”, curated by Marco Fiorentino, is a critical and documentary tribute to a somewhat overlooked figure in post-war Italian design. The exhibition, together with its catalogue, serves as an operation of philological and commemorative reconstruction, aiming to reignite attention on a designer who remained on the margins of official historiography, yet whose work reveals a remarkable expressive consistency and outstanding design quality.
The exhibition presents a representative selection of furniture, lighting fixtures, design drawings, and environmental sketches, the result of research conducted through a wide range of sources: period documentation, commercial catalogues, photographic archives, auction house records, as well as materials preserved in the Renato Forti Archive (ARF).
In recent years, the vintage design market has rediscovered Forti’s work, although attributions are often uncertain or disputed. In this regard, the ongoing archival systematization has enabled new cross-checks, made possible also by the discovery of original photographs attributed to the Ballo+Ballo studio, now housed in the Photographic Archive of the City of Milan.
The exhibition layout follows a chronological structure, divided into sections alternating furniture, lamps, objects, and archival materials. The route concludes with a selection of environmental sketches, exemplifying the integrated design process that characterized Forti’s approach. The exhibition design emphasizes the distinctive elements that make each piece of furniture unique. The exhibition also includes an interactive area where visitors can personally engage in assembling the iconic F54 bookcase.
The installation was created by Sara Fontana, an interior designer with international training, who opted for an essential and functional solution, utilizing the versatility of sound-absorbing panels provided by Caimi, the exhibition’s technical partner, to display graphic and photographic materials. The catalogue, featuring texts by Marco Fiorentino and graphic design by ADI Design Museum, was produced with the support of the company ICAS and includes a critical essay by Beppe Finessi, one of the first contemporary scholars to recognize the significance of Forti’s work.
