Alfabeto Mangiarotti

For Angelo Mangiarotti (1921-2012), design was always ‘a gesture’. For him, scale was of secondary importance. That’s why he made not only buildings but also sculptures and utensils – a rarity at the time in Italy. Mangiarotti argued for the mutual influencing of disciplines and sought values that were relevant at all scales and for all functions, such as aesthetics and craftsmanship. On the basis of archival images and interviews with friends, colleagues and clients, Alfabeto Mangiarotti – ‘The Mangiarotti Alphabet’ – investigates the work of this idiosyncratic designer. ‘His later designs are not post-modern but post-honest’, someone points out in the film. ‘Bring your Calvinism and radicalness together and you get Mangiarotti’, says another.