The Critical Writings of Anna Maria Fundarò

The Roots and identity of Industrial Design in Sicily

Keywords: Anna Maria Fundarò, Industrial Design, Sicilian Identity, Design History, Università di Palermo

Abstract

This micro-history analyses the writings of Anna Maria Fundarò, architect and professor of industrial design in Palermo from 1972 to 1999. Preserved in the Damiani-Fundarò archives in Palermo, her extensive scientific production makes it possible to reconstruct the author’s thought, developed between1970 and 1990, about design and its role in the unusual context of Sicily, which is underdeveloped and peripheral with respect to the centres of industrial production and the debate on contemporary issues. The article introduces the figure of Fundarò, sketching out a preliminary intellectual biography and divides her prolific written production into four different typologies. The analysis of her texts reveals a critical body of writings that constitutes the manifesto of her daily work as a design teacher as well as her commitment to issues of urban policy in Palermo. At the same time, it highlights how her thoughts on design, which have yet to be fully explored, constitute a significant contribution at the national level and a milestone in the context of Sicily.

Author Biography

Marinella Ferrara, Politecnico di Milano

Architect, PhD, and associate professor of Industrial Design at Politecnico di Milano, Design Department. Since 1989 she has been performing a scientific activity and teaching at several universities and academies in Italy (Catania, Florence, Palermo, etc.) and abroad as a visiting professor (the University of Barcelona, ​​ UEM in Madrid, IADE in Lisbon, Izmir University of Economics, Universidad de Uruguay and University Jingdezhen-China). At Politecnico di Milano she coordinates MADEC (the Research Centre of Material Design Culture) leading scientific research about design-driven material innovation, and the skills of design in relation to technological innovations and materials. She is the author of books and essays that examine the relationship between design and materials (published by Springer, Lupetti, Alinea, Gangemi, etc). Other topics she is very fond of are design for cultural identities valorisation and the evolution of the design in the Mediterranean countries. Since 2011 she is the editors-in-chief of the online journal «PAD. Pages on Arts & Design» (www.padjournal.net). Internationally she cooperates with several magazines of design. She is member of the executive committee of ADI (Association for Industrial Design), coordinator of the Scientific Committee for Professional Training and member of the Internationalization Team.

Published
2015-09-30
Issue
Vol 3 No 6 (2015): Designers and Writing in the Twentieth Century
Section
Micro-histories

Copyright (c) 2015 Marinella Ferrara

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons NonCommercial-NoDerivates 4.0 international License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).