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Blow Inflatable Armchair
Jonathan De Pas, Donato D’Urbino and Paolo Lomazzi
The Blow inflatable armchair was designed in 1967 by Jonathan De Pas, Donato D’Urbino and Paolo Lomazzi (with Scolari). Blow, the first Italian inflatable design object, soon became the symbol of the new free and light style, and represented the embodiment of the utopian design project by Marcel Breuer as an article of furniture supported by a column of air, in addition to confirming how Zanotta has consistently combined research and the promotion of experimental products to an evolved public over the years. In the wake of their success at the 1968 Furniture Show, the designers created other visionary inflatable objects in transparent PVC, such as those displayed in the Pneumatic Hall at the 2nd Eurodomus Show in Turin. Although the armchair is currently out of production, Blow is nowadays considered a symbolic object of the legendary ‘60s, one of the most important “pop” items and as such it is taken as a model of the social and cultural changes of those years.
Brand
Zanotta
Price
Premium
Required
Base Game
Creator
Meinkatz
Jonathan De Pas, Donato D’Urbino and Paolo Lomazzi
Following previous professional experiences, both individual and in combination with other architects, Jonathan De Pas (1932-1991), Donato D’Urbino (1935) e Paolo Lomazzi (1936) began working together in 1966. Their interests included industrial design, interior design, exhibition design, urban planning and architecture. They made their mark in the 1960s as exponents of the fashionable and unconventional pop design: particularly famous is the “Blow” armchair of 1967 as are the designs for other pneumatic structures, housing and exhibition areas of the same years, such as the inflatable tunnel for the 14th Milan Triennale (1968). In the seventies they were responsible for some of the icons of Italian design: the Joe sofa (1970), the Duecavalli chair (1970) and the Sciangai coat hanger (1973).
They received numerous awards and honours, including the Compasso d'Oro (Milan, 1979). As well as design, they also developed theoretical work with the Association for Industrial Design (ADI), the Politecnico of Milan and the IUAV of Venice. Their works are in the permanent collections of several museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Milan Triennale.
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