The four beds
Exibition at "Institut d'art Contemporain Villeurbanne/Rhône Alpes" in Lyon, 1967.
Ettore Sottsass asked each of the Archizooms to design a bed in an environment on a scale of 1:10 to introduce the group in Domus issue number 455. These four beds are the manifesto of Radical Architecture. Here we maintain that the invention that comes before the product is its typological invention, that the object of design is not an archetype, an abstract geometrical form that is as elementary as possible, the better to meet the so-called principles of rational manufacturing, but the representation of an imagination, a piece of life that attracts a specific intended user who dreams of rainbows and loves Dylan, and that recognizes that pop imagery is a revaluation of popular taste, kitsch, against the good taste of elegant, composed, geometric, white Braun-style design.
The radical decorates forms with the aggressive imagery of Japanese motorcycles, of the material fiction and pop music because the form must tell a story and never impose an absolute, it must be able to unite the culture of something “different”, which we have always pursued in the name of good taste. Bed in stamped metal with “Grande A” [Big A] light, rear wardrobe and front armchair for taking off your socks. (Photo by Dario Bartolini). Bed with false mother-of-pearl coating, the cover and “Dreaming California” in fake leopard skin. Wardrobe headboard accessible from behind, with ox horns. (Photo by Dario Bartolini). “Naufragio di rose” with “Arcobaleno” cover with portrait of Bob Dylan, fake marble nightstands connected by a rotating tube for the various inclinations of the cushions. (Photo by Dario Bartolini). Bed in stamped metal with wardrobe behind and Atlantic light. (Photo by Dario Bartolini).
