Rodolfo Bonetto

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Rodolfo Bonetto
Born(1929-09-18)18 September 1929
Milan, Lombardy, Italy
Died28 March 1991(1991-03-28) (aged 61)
Milan, Lombardy, Italy
OccupationDesigner
Known forIndustrial design

Rodolfo Bonetto (Milan, 18 September 1929—Milan, 28 March 1991)[1] was an Italian musician and designer. He was one of the leading proponents of Italian industrial design in the post war period. His designs won eight Compasso d'Oro Awards and made an important contribution to the international recognition of "Made in Italy" products.

Bonetto was also a Jazz drummer who was considered by the music critic Arrigo Polillo to be one of the best Italian drummers, along with Leonello Bionda and Gil Cuppini.[2]

Biography

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After his high school education, Bonetto took some drumming lessons and began playing, later joining the band Hot Dandies.[3] In 1955 he joined an Italian sextet, which made several recordings,[4] and with which he participated in the Sanremo International Jazz Festival in 1956.[5] For ten years, from 1949 to 1959, he also worked as a session musician, playing on numerous pop music records in various orchestras, and accompanying the Quartetto Cetra on many recordings.[3]

He then abandoned his career as a jazz drummer to devote himself to drawing.[6] His passion for design was manifested thanks to his paternal uncle Felice Bonetto, a famous racing driver of the early 1950s, who introduced him to motor sports, and the young Bonetto, passionate about this field, began drawing cars.[7]

Self-taught,[8] he began as a design consultant at Pininfarina, where he worked from 1951 to 1957 and further developed his talents.[9] His career as a designer went a level up in 1958, when he founded his own design studio in Milan.

During his long career as a designer he created projects in the most diverse fields of serial industrial production: household appliances, car bodies, sanitary ware, machine tools, consumer electronics, musical instruments, television sets, suitcases, hi-fi systems, furniture, light fixtures, and aircraft instrumentation. Vittorio Gregotti called him an "educated worker" because he understood how to combine his knowledge of production technologies and materials with aspects of ergonomics and a sound study of form.

Teaching and governance positions

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From 1961 to 1965, Bonetto taught industrial design at the Ulm School of Design; he was the only Italian with an explicit invitation to teach at this institution.[10] [11] Nevertheless, his methods were not totally undisputed, because he favoured a more practical and emotional approach, contrary to the academic and scientific one that the institution was known for. There was even a stand-off between an anti- and a pro-Bonetto group. The latter one, with Pio Manzù in the lead, eventually won and Bonetto could stay on.

From 1974 to 1979 he taught at the ISIA in Rome. He served from 1971 to 1973 as president of the ADI, and from 1981 to 1983 of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), since 2017 known as WDO, associations of which he was a member. Also, he was a member of Italian and international juries.[12]

Furniture, lighting and domestic objects

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During his career, Bonetto worked for companies like Brionvega, Artemide and Siemens. Some of his works are in the MoMA collection, like a kitchen timer (Veglia-Borletti model 152, 1960), alarm clock (Fratelli Borletti Sfericlock, 1963) and lounge chair (Flexform Boomerang, 1968).[13][14] In 1970 he was commissioned by manufacturer Bellato to design hotel cabinets. He came up with the Linearsystem, with various furniture pieces in walnut wood. But those turned out too expensive for hotels, after which they were offered to households, where they found all kinds of applications. In the 1970s and 1980s he designed various lamps for iGuzzini.[15] And he worked on projects for the Italian home accessory manufacturer Castelli.[16]

Automotive

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While still playing music, in 1953 Bonetto already designs a Lancia Aurelia for Vignale.[17] After his years at Pininfarina and after opening up his own studio in 1958, Bonetto started working on various automotive assignments. For Touring, Bonetto designed the Alfa Romeo 2000 Spider of 1957.[18][19] In the early 1960s, he produced a number of designs for Carrozzeria Boneschi in Milan,[20] where he specialised in the design trend Linea Tesa (literally taut line).[21] Examples are the Lancia Flaminia Amalfi and two versions of the OSCA 1600 GT Swift. Another coachbuilder that he did freelance assignments for, was Viotti. The concepts that came out of that, were based on Fiats 500, 600 and 1500, and were considered quite ahead of their time.[22] Eventually, among all the automotive designs that Bonetto made, there were also many car interiors like that of the Fiat Ritmo Super,[17] Fiat Tipo,[23] Croma first generation, and Lancia Y10. Plus the award-winning interior of the Fiat 131 second series CL/Supermirafiori.[9]

Recognition

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Bonetto was one of the few Italian designers who neither studied architecture nor realized any architectural projects. He was awarded eight Compasso d'Oro awards, the last of which came shortly after his death in 1991, as a tribute to his thirty-year career. In 2023, Walter de Silva curated an exhibition called The Rhythm of Design. Rodolfo Bonetto at the ADI Design Museum in Milan, in which were on display thirty objects designed by Bonetto, plus a number of the instruments from his earlier, music career.[24]

His work is continued today by Studio Bonetto Design, headed by his son, Marco Bonetto. In 1994, Marco founded the Bonetto Design Center in Monte Carlo in memory of his father, and further expanded his design practice into the automotive sector. In 1991, the Targa Rodolfo Bonetto award was initiated by his son, aimed at motivating design students. The jury consists of architects, teachers and entrepreneurs.[25][26]

Bonetto is buried at the Greater Cemetery of Milan.

Major Works

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  • Sfericlock alarm clock for Veglia-Borletti, 1962 – Compasso d'Oro 1964
  • Auctor Multiplex tool machine for Olivetti, 1967 – Compasso d'Oro 1967[27]
  • Boomerang Lounge Chair for Flexform, 1968
  • Linea 1 television set for Autovox, 1969
  • Automatic microfilm machine for BCM, 1970 – Compasso d'Oro 1970
  • Melaina armchair for Driade, 1970
  • TV 1202 television set for Voxson, 1972
  • Horizon 2 machining center for Olivetti (with Naoki Matsunaga), 1972–1975
  • Interior of the Fiat 131 Mirafiori 2nd series for Fiat Auto, 1978 – Compasso d'Oro 1979
  • Tanga car radio for Voxson, 1979
  • Olivetti's Inspector Midi, 1979 – Compasso d'Oro 1979
  • Wizco multipurpose power plant WIz, 1981 – Compasso d'Oro 1981
  • Engine styling FIRE 1000 for Fiat Auto, 1984
  • Machine tool model Auctor 400 for Olivetti, 1984 – Compasso d'Oro 1984
  • Public telephone Rotor for SIP, 1989
Public telephone Rotor for SIP, 1989
Public telephone Rotor for SIP, 1989.
  • Alfa Romeo 2000 Spider for Touring, 1957.
    Alfa Romeo 2000 Spider for Touring, 1957.
  • Brion Vega TS 207, 1961.
    Brion Vega TS 207, 1961.
  • Interior Fiat 131 CL/Supermirafiori, 1978.
    Interior Fiat 131 CL/Supermirafiori, 1978.

Bibliography

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  • G. Pettena - "Rodolfo Bonetto Thirty Years of Design" - Rome, Idea Books Edizioni, 1992.
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References

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  1. ^ Kries, Mateo; Eisenbrand, Jochen (2019). Atlas of Furniture Design. Weil am Rhein: Vitra Design Museum. p. 872. ISBN 9783931936990.
  2. ^ Mazzoletti, Adriano (2010). "The Postwar Period and Beyond". Il jazz in Italia. Dallo swing agli anni '60 [Jazz in Italy. From Swing to the 1960s] (in Italian). Turin: Edizioni Di Torino. p. 601.
  3. ^ a b Zoli, Arrigo (1983). "Bonetto Rodolfo". Storia del Jazz Moderno Italiano: I Musicisti [History of modern Italian jazz: The musicians] (in Italian). Rome: Azi Edizioni. p. 160.
  4. ^ Lucini, Gianni. "Rodolfo Bonetto il batterista che lasciò il jazz per il design" [Rodolfo Bonetto the drummer who left jazz for design]. Dailygreen.it (in Italian). Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  5. ^ "Dieci anni a Sanremo" [Ten Years in Sanremo] (in Italian). Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  6. ^ "Biografie - Rodolfo Bonetto" [Biographies - Rodolfo Bonetto]. Archimagazine.com (in Italian). Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  7. ^ Confalonieri, Laura (9 October 2008). "Bonetto Design - 50 Anni in mostra" [Bonetto Design - 50 Years on display]. Quattroruote.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 9 January 2014.
  8. ^ From the document "Driade" on the Unici.us website
  9. ^ a b "The 'Linea Tesa' design by Carrozzeria Boneschi". www.carrozzieri-italiani.com. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
  10. ^ Lees-Maffei, Grace; Fallan, Kjetil (2014). Made in Italy: rethinking a century of Italian design. London, UK: Bloomsbury Pbulishin Plc. p. 91. ISBN 9781472558428.
  11. ^ "Dreirädriges Kleintaxi" [Small 3-wheel taxi]. www.museum-digital.org (in German). Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  12. ^ "Rodolfo Bonetto". www.carrozzieri-italiani.com. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
  13. ^ "Rodolfo Bonetto". MoMA.org. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
  14. ^ Reif, Rita (22 May 1972). "MOMA Mia, That's Some Show". New York Magazine. New York, NY: 41.
  15. ^ "Bonetto, Rodolfo" (in German). Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  16. ^ Woodham, Jonathan M. (2016). A Dictionary of Modern Design (2 ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191762963.
  17. ^ a b Giacomelli, Thomas (29 March 2024). "Rodolfo Bonetto, the jazz player who shaped industrial design". www.ilgiornale.it. Retrieved 14 November 2025.
  18. ^ Bagnall, Tony (2019). "5". Alfa Romeo 2000 and 2600 - The complete story. The Crowood Press Ltd. ISBN 9781785006326.
  19. ^ "Alfa Romeo 2000 Spider". www.carrozzieri-italiani.com. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
  20. ^ Caspers, Markus (2016). Design Motion. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH. p. 77. ISBN 9783035609820.
  21. ^ Georgano, Nick (2013). The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 1579583679.
  22. ^ "The Story of Carrozzeria Viotti". www.carrozzieri-italiani.com. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
  23. ^ "OLIVARI - Rodolfo Bonetto". Olivari.it. Archived from the original on 27 August 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
  24. ^ "Walter De Silva curates an exhibition on Rodolfo Bonetto at the ADI Design Museum". Auto&Design. 8 March 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  25. ^ "Rodolfo Bonetto: il grande designer di Milano" [Rodolfo Bonetto: the great designer of Milan]. www.brumbrum.it (in Italian). 20 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2025.
  26. ^ "Targa Rodolfo Bonetto". www.targabonetto.it. Retrieved 14 November 2025.
  27. ^ "The 16 Olivetti Compassi d'Oro Awards". Associazione Archivio Storico Olivetti (in Italian). 7 March 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2024.