Terrific design. Ediz. illustrata - Hardcover

There has been a shift in contemporary design, something hazy like a summer rainbow and hard to label. It is not kitsch, something that has always taken a side swipe at beauty, because it does not have popular connotations. Rather, it appears to be a high and virtuous manifestation of creativity applied to objects of everyday use. It feeds off a variety of different abilities - woodwork, sculpture, carving, assemblage, collage, recycling, transformation, embroidery, knitting - and crosses a variety of trends, from Surrealism to Dadaism, from Zoomorphism to Anthropomorphism. It uses the most disparate of materials, with a focus on recovery. Functionality becomes optional; the objective is wonder, and perhaps disgust: that healthy jolt that strikes the stomach before it strikes the mind. Terrific Design celebrates some of the most bizarre objects to be found in the design world today.

Cristina Morozzi is a journalist, critic and art director on the border between art, fashion and design, she led design magazine Modo for 9 years. A fashion and design consultant and author, she contributes to a variety of newspapers and plans and curates exhibitions, and is visiting professor at the Domus Academy in Milan and at the Ecole Cantonale d'Art in Lausanne.