Enzo Mari (1932 - 2020)

"Children must be given, not games, but play structures." said Enzo Mari.

Born in 1932 in Cerano, in the North of Italy, Enzo Mari studied at the Brera Academy in Milan, from which he graduated in 1956. With his wife Gabriella, also a designer, they worked on children books and toys, graphism, design and architecture. Influenced by his openly communist political convictions, he refused the idea of design as a luxury reserved for the wealthy. As a fact, he introduced in 1974 the idea of ​​Do-It-Yourself, in his manifest book "Proposta per un'autoprogettazione" (Proposal for self-conception).

It is also in this spirit that he designed his games for children: high standards, quality, simplification, in contrast to the avalanches of toys that cluttered children's rooms. He received the Compasso d'Oro many times, 1967, 1979, 1987 and in 2001, and collaborated with the greatest design editors like Artemide, Alessi, Castelli, Danese, Zanotta ...