“I am Rodolfo Bonetto. Designer by vocation, musician by passion’. These were the words with which he introduced himself to Walter De Silva and a group of young designers from Fiat. “A prophet – as we read in the book ‘il Codice De Silva’ published by Artioli Editore 1899, presented last December at the ADI Design Museum in Milan – with a clear and precise mission: to bring the culture of design into the interiors of Fiat cars and revolutionise the quality of life on board. Everything that until a few moments before was only intuition was manifested in all its grandeur, the greatness and magic of Design and not only that, of the legendary Milanese Design. Every word of that first historic meeting is music and is at the same time the beginning and the end of an albeit brief epoch’.
This was the essence of the professional encounter between Rodolfo Bonetto and Walter De Silva, which resulted in the young group of Fiat designers moving to Milan, to the 5th floor of Via Vincenzo Monti 8, in the creative heart of the city. It was the beginning of a great collaboration that soon turned into true friendship.
It is therefore a natural consequence that it is De Silva himself, together with Mario Antonioli, who has curated the exhibition and design project for the exhibition that will be featured at the ADI Design Museum from 8 March. The exhibition entitled ‘The Rhythm of Design. Rodolfo Bonetto” will be on display until 23 April in the very venue where the two designers were awarded the prestigious Compasso d’Oro prize for their career, in 1991 and 2011 respectively. The exhibition, which focuses above all on the variety of ‘rhythms’ with which Bonetto was able to design products for even very different users, brings together thirty of the most significant objects designed by Rodolfo Bonetto, together with a selection of the percussion instruments that meant so much to the designer’s personality.
