Joe Colombo is dead as a doornail

December 1, 2004

Here is the amazingly efficient Joe Colombo designed mini-kitchen. R.vT. tipped me to him a few days ago as I lamented giving up my superflous spoon collection. As my most informative blog-reader to date, R noted that Joe Colombo designed the Alitalia tableware in 1970.

Apparently the ‘MINI-KITCHEN’ designed in the year of my birth and produced in the year of my brother’s birth contains ‘all the electrical appliances and necessary features one needs to cook for and accommodate six people, in just one-half of a cubic meter’.

Well, both the rice-maker and the staff-mixer are nowhere to be seen and I don’t see where one would stow them in the mini-kitchen, but the MK remains an inspiration. Joe Colombo died on his 41st birthday of heart failure.

technorati tags: Joe Colombo, design, kitchen, serviceware

the Joe Colombo Design Official Website

“MINI-KITCHEN”
AJC 0056

Design 1963 - Production 1964 BOFFI

This small one-piece kitchen on wheels contains all the electrical appliances and necessary features one needs to cook for and accommodate six people, in just one-half of a cubic meter. Electrically powered, it is made of wood, steel and plastic.

Manufacturer: BOFFI

oh - and here’s the joe Colombo Alitalia set:

Design and Fun site

Here is the Google list of websites with images of Joe Colombo’s work.

debra at 18:41 | | post to del.icio.us

10 Comments »

1. A truly beautiful design, that reminds me of Anglo-American patent furniture. Aimed at relieving the burdens of living in a crmaped household, furniture makers in the 19th century designed multi-functional objects comparable to the ingenuity of Colombo’s mini-kitchen or, on a smaller scle, a Swiss Army Knive. It’s interesting that the advent of Patent Furniture runs perallel with Catherine Beecher’s attempt to upgrade the household kitchen.
   Her goal: give women more time to develop and educate themselves by turning the household into a more practical environment. She was a true suffragette avant la lettre, departing from the unjust constraints of the private domain.
   Catherine Beecher’s “Domestic Receipt Book” is an all-time classic.
   http://www.foodhistory.com/classics/beecher/drb.htm

   Comment by ronald — December 3, 2004 @ 12:25

2. Another book written by Beecher:
   http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/html/books/book_26.cfm

   Comment by ronald — December 3, 2004 @ 12:40

3. dit is zoooo mooi! ik zou het meteen willen hebben. Zou voor mij echt perfect zijn!

   Comment by Kristi van Riet — December 3, 2004 @ 13:10

4. I think it goes with your pocket knife fetish.

   Comment by debra — December 3, 2004 @ 13:31

5. Thanks Ro for the images of the patent furniture. I’ll place them in the comment bits later.

   Comment by debra — December 3, 2004 @ 14:59

6. maybe that’s it. But maybe also this kitchen isn’t too intimidating. I feel as even I could cook on that. En alles zit zo lekker dicht bij elkaar! (zoals de vader van een ex-vriendje ooit opmerkte toen bleek dat de nieuwe vlam van zoonlief aan de kleine kant was)

   Comment by Kristi van Riet — December 3, 2004 @ 18:03

7. LOL!

   Comment by debra — December 3, 2004 @ 19:44

8. BTW I might be zeiking but could you enhance the contrast of yr design a bit? I find the light grey letters a bit hard to read.

   Comment by Kristi van Riet — December 4, 2004 @ 8:57

9. why certainly. this afternoon.

   Comment by debra — December 4, 2004 @ 13:07

10. i just heard its back in production — it was at the Milan Design show a week ago

    Comment by beth — April 19, 2006 @ 22:43