Design: Vignelli exhibition, Rochester, NY. Product Design

View of the "Design: Vignelli" exhibition, Benetton Galleries, Vignelli Center for Design Studies, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, United States. The "Design: Vignelli" exhibition opened in 2010 at the Vignelli Center for Design Studies, which is also home to their entire professional archives. The exhibition mirrors the "Design: Vignelli" exhibition which toured nine countries between 1989-1993. As with the previous iteration, Lella Vignelli and Massimo Vignelli designed the displays, wrote the descriptive text, and curated the artifacts for the exhibition. It is the last exhibition designed by the Vignellis that is still open to the public. Pictured: Heller Stacking Dinnerware (1967)

Text from design: Vignelli exhibition label:
Heller Stacking Dinnerware, New York 1967.
This line of stackable plastic dinnerware was originally designed in Milan in 1964 for a small company involved in the production of melamine Mickey Mouse ashtrays. The concept behind the dinnerware was to make a compact set of interlocking units that would save space and achieve a clean shape as a final result. The set was immediately awarded the Compass d’ora by the ADI (Italian Design Association) but the manufacturer went out of business. The molds were then stored in a basement for a long time. The Museum of Modern Art owned one set of the dishes, which they lent to the Museum of Contemporary Crafts for a 1966 exhibition. That is where design entrepreneur Alan Heller saw the design for the first time. Heller decided to import the dishware to the United States. He went to Milan, found the molds, and revived the production. A few years later, we added more colors, and eventually production of the dinnerware was relocated to the United States. The size of the plates, their edge-wall concept, their stack ability, and their brilliant array of rainbow colors quickly captured consumers’ attention, and the production became part of the American lifestyle.