Originally published in Domus 457/December 1967
Inflatable Furniture
Man managed to fly for the first time clinging to a balloon. For centuries, he studied and experimented with complicated flying machines, perfect mechanisms that cost many a life of study, observations and life itself. Then the situation changed: a membrane, hot air and up into the sky. Air solved a problem as old as the world. Today we solve many of our problems with air; just think of car tires, and even if there is no real Science of the Inflatable, our interest is clear in this ever-expanding technique that contributes to changing and improving our lives.
Pneumatic Design
In the 1960s, the development of thermo-bonding techniques for waterproof plastic fabrics led to the proliferation of pneumatic applications.
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- Costantino Corsini
- 19 March 2011
Even in architecture and urbanism, the studies and examples of pneumatic applications do not fail to fascinate us with their science fiction connotations. Now we have come to interiors and furniture, attracted by the possibility of transient solutions, which satisfy the negation of durable meaning, opposing it with the object made out of nothing and only for use. The problem was in the air. There was general discussion among designers and proposals were made to manufacturers, who could not free themselves from the phobia of the balloon and the needle. Then, suddenly, the first pictures were printed in large popular publications along with the first articles and so on in all publications, even the dailies: from "Life" to "II Giorno" the inflatable has now become news and, as "Le Nouvel Observateur" states, public opinion is infected with the le virus de la pneumanie.
In New York, business opportunities are never passed up and Mass Art Incorporated is already producing a series of inflatable plastic furniture: chairs, pillows and even a mattress-bed whose modular elements are dimensioned in relation to the user's height. The colors of the glossy transparent vinyl are vibrant and the technique is in the packaging; the laboratories are reminiscent of paper dresses and even in this case, commercial exploitation is prevalent. One cannot get over the feeling of working for a precarious market with the impression that today's massive orders will be followed by sudden drops and the need to change production. Of course all of this finds precise correspondence in the design of the models: looking at them, you certainly don't feel like you're witnessing a phenomenon that will revolutionize our homes but one thinks, rather, of object-toys created to amuse and amaze.
Even in architecture and urbanism, the studies and examples of pneumatic applications do not fail to fascinate us with their science fiction connotations.
In Europe, where true mass production has not come about, the prototypes show more ambition and solicit some interest from major manufacturers but also here, it is a testing ground full of ideas, of attempts. The generality of these examples may provide the opportunity for easy criticism of what is alien to the design process and, on the other hand, it does not seem to be the case to attempt the complicated recovery of these phenomena, seeking their place in our industrial culture. We prefer to consider them only exciting anticipations....It will be fitting, then, to encourage an awareness of the problem, denouncing any ambiguity regarding the objectives and the cultural state that contributes to determining them.