The Italian Cultural Institute of Montreal and the Centre de design de l’UQAM will present a screening of the documentary film “Story of Piero. A designer between two worlds” realized by Alessandro Colizzi and produced by Paul Tana.
Wednesday September 19 – 6:30pm
Centre de design de l’UQAM
1440, rue Sanguinet – Montréal
Free admission
This documentary traces Piero Ottinetti’s (1927-2018) life and work. He is an Italian designer who lived and worked in both Milan and Chicago. During the ’50s and ’60s Mr. Ottinetti was considered one of the greatest Milanese school’s graphic designers, photographers and illustrators Montecatini, Pirelli, Philips, Samoiraghi, OM, Busnelli, Ceramiche Marazzi, Lebole, Cotonificio Cantoni were among his many customers. Ottinetti was from Piedmont but he moved to Rome after the World War II. In the Italian capital city he studied at the Accademia di San Luca, then he went to Milan to attend the Convitto Rinascita – a professional school for former fighters -, where he discovered graphism. He started his career as Remo Muratore’s assistant and after his experience at La Rinascente he worked with Max Huber. In 1954 he opened his own studio. He received his first awards thanks to his cooperation with Montecatini and Pirelli in the creation of advertising, posters, catalogues and prints. He also designed some installations for Fiera Milano. In 1971 he emigrated to Chicago, in the United States because of the Italian economic depression and the political crisis started in Italy at the end of the ’60s. After an experience as free-lance he joined Kemper, the insurance company. There he worked as artistic director to enhance and to look at Kemper’s visual identity. In the ’80s he retired to focus on painting.
Even if Ottinetti was an important designer he was forgotten when he emigrated to the USA and deplaced by the subsequent historical reconstructions. The author met Ottinetti by chance and since then he repeatedly interviewed him. Since the first mneeting, the interview seemed a complex investigation based on oral history. The documentary format focuses on the personal narrative dimension. In this way it allows to look at and to critically analize the cultural Italian and American contexts in which Ottinetti evolved. Furthermore, his testimony offers an uncensored vision on the daily Milanese design. His career’s reconstruction as journalist puts in evidence the personal and social factors that influenced him as designer, rather than highlighting his talent.
Alessandro Colizzi is Professor of history of graphic design, typography and character design at UQAM’s Design School in Montreal. He has obtained a doctorate at the Leiden University, a master’s degree in Type Design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in La Haye, a post-graduation work at the Atelier National de Recherche Typographique and a master’s degree in English Litterature at La Sapienza in Rome. His studies focus on graphic design. typography and information design. M. Colizzi regularly publishes in academic and professional journals, he trasnlates texts from English, Dutch and French. For a long time he has worked as designer and artistic director with a specialization in typography. He belongs to the International Typography Association (ATypl), the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD), the Design Research Society (DRS), the AIAP (Association Italienne des Designers Graphiques) and the A/I/S Design (Association Italienne des historiens du design).