Gillo Dorfles: The Critic Who Elevated Italian Design

Gillo Dorfles, a polymath critic and phenomenologist of taste, was among the first in postwar Italy to scientifically recognize industrial design as a propulsive force. He argued that design pervades all aspects of life and acts as a societal thermometer. In 1948, he co-founded the MAC (Movimento d'Arte Concreta) with Bruno Munari and others, which from its debut at Libreria Salto in Milan embraced architecture and the nascent Italian design. His seminal book "Il disegno industriale e la sua estetica" (1963), later expanded as "Introduzione al disegno industriale" (1972), became a guide for students and professionals. Dorfles also introduced the concept of kitsch to Italy with his 1968 book "Il Kitsch, antologia del cattivo gusto," transforming it from mere bad taste into a recognized aesthetic category. He later curated a kitsch exhibition at the Triennale di Milano in 2012. In the 1990s, he coined "oggettoidi" for products that superficially appear to be design but lack authentic creative process, paralleling his earlier critique of kitsch as an artistic imposture.