Over centuries, the transnational Alpine region Tyrol - South Tyrol - Trentino (Alto Adige) has developed along ancient trade routes between Germany and Austria on one side of the Alps and northern Italy on the other. Similar to the region's modern and contemporary architecture, its product design is in many cases rooted in a rich local tradition of craftsmanship. Yet since the 1920s, this multi-lingual region has also proven its remarkable openness to European modernism's most progressive movements and become an unexpected laboratory for technical and formal exploration in the middle of the continent. Design from the Alps, published to coincide with an exhibition at museum Kunst Meran in autumn 2019, tells the story of a century of product design from Tyrol - South Tyrol - Trentino, highlighting the vast variety of discoveries and innovations that have emerged there. Featured artists include, among others, Fortunato Depero (1892-1960), whose experiments were inspired by the Secondo Futurismo, Gino Pollini (1903-91), a pioneer of the interwar period, as well as the celebrated architects and designers Lois Welzenbacher (1889-1955), Clemens Holzmeister (1886-1983), and Ettore Sottsas (1917-2007). Lavishly illustrated, the book follows the many protagonists of this at the same time heterogenous and collectively strong scene and offers an insightful tour d'horizon of the manifaceted design culture of western Austria and northern Italy. Text in English, German and Italian. Design from the Alps (Kunst Meran, Merano, Italy, 11 October 2019 to 12 January 2020). AUTHORS: Kunst Meran, founded in 1986, is an art and exhibition space in Meran in Italy's multi-lingual region Trentino - Alto Adige. Claudio Larcher is an architect and partner with Milan-based design firm Modoloco. He also teaches at Nuova Academia di Belle Arti in Milan. Massimo Martignoni is an art historian and writer, and a professor of history of design at Nuova Academia die Belle Arti in Milan. Ursula Schnitzer is an art historian and project co-ordinator with Kunst Meran. SELLING POINTS: . The first-ever comprehensive survey of design production of the past 100 years from the multi-lingual, transnational Alpine region Tyrol - South Tyrol - Trentino . The region is a dynamic cultural space with rich tradition in craft and a very productive laboratory for technical and formal exploration also in product design
