AG Fronzoni

AG Fronzoni (1923-2002, pseudonym of Angiolo Giuseppe Fronzoni) was one of the main graphic designers of the Italian twentieth century, who also successfully ventured into the fields of product design and architecture. Considered the most radically minimalist among Italian designers, Fronzoni was the standard-bearer of an ascetic style in which only the colors of black and white found space and the forms were the result of rigid geometries with solid mathematical bases. His activity began in 1949 with the opening of his studio in Milan and the foundation of the magazine “Punta”, but all his most important projects saw the light only starting from the 1960s. In the graphic field, we remember works such as the posters for the Lucio Fontana exhibition in 1966 and the coordinated image for the Venice Biennale in 1969, but also the layout of the Casabella magazine for which he was also a collaborator starting in 1965. His most remembered products are those of the Series 64, initially designed for his personal home and re-edited by Cappellini starting in 1998, all composed on the basis of very simple square modules. Also important is the historical legacy of creations such as the Quadra lamp (1962, now produced by Viabizzuno) and the Forma Zero series of suitcases for Valextra (1963). He was also active in the design of exhibition spaces, including that of the orangery of Palazzo Bianco in Genoa, which became the site of a modern art gallery. His ten-year teaching activity was very significant, culminating in 1982 with the foundation of an original school-workshop in via Solferino in Milan, a training ground for a new generation of Italian minimalists, including the architect Claudio Silvestrin, considered by many to be his spiritual heir.