Ufo Group - Design London Wednesday, September 24, 2008 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Collection of Lapo Binazzi, Italy

  • Literature

    Kazuko Sato, Alchimia, Berlin, 1988, p. 25, fig. 32 for the Studio Alchimia edition; Fulvio and Napoleone Ferrari, Light: Lamp 1968-1973: The New Italian Design, Turin, 2002, p. 104, fig. 158; Charlotte and Peter Fiell, eds., 1000 Lights, Vol. 2: 1960 to Present, Cologne, 2005, p. 161 for the Studio Alchimia edition

  • Catalogue Essay

    The group UFO (Urban Future Organization) was founded in 1967 by young Italian designers and architects Lapo Binazzi, Carlo Bachi, Riccardo Foresi, Patrizia Cammeo, Vittorio Maschietto and Sandro Gioli in Florence.  UFO played an important role in the Radical Design movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s which emerged as an offspring of Architettura Radicale.  Their vision was to unite architecture with art, design and literature in order to critique society and to rigorously question the formality of Rationalism and functionalism.
     
    UFO’s work often incorporates the language and symbols of popular culture.  The present lot references Hollywood and the American film industry as well as the popular comic strip character Scrooge McDuck.  Semiology in general plays a large role in UFO’s work by embedding meaning in seemingly decorative elements.  Lapo Binazzi, the unofficial leader of the group, particularly aimed to connect the lessons of semiology to the more rigid and scientific tenets of architecture.

98

‘Dollaro’ table lamp

c. 1969
Gilt wood, gilt metal, pietra serena stone. 
74.3 cm. (29 1/4 in.) high
Produced by UFO, Italy.

Estimate
£4,000 - 6,000 

Sold for £5,000

Design

25 Sept 2008, 2pm
London