Tomás Maldonado
Tomás Maldonado (1922, Buenos Aires) is a painter, industrial designer, teacher and design theoritician who has been highly influential on design thinking and practice since the 1960s.
He studied at the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. In 1942, together with Jorge Brito, Alfredo Hlito, and Claudio Girola, he signed the Manifiesto de cuatro jóvenes rejecting the selection carried out at the Salón Nacional. In 1945, he co-founded the Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención and co-wrote The Manifiesto Invencionista.
In 1948, he met Max Bill during his travel to Europe; later he invited him to teach design at the Ulm School of Design, where he taught between 1954 and 1967; in 1955-56 serving as Prorector, and from 1960 as Rector.
Teaches environmental planning at Politecnico in Milan.
Contents
Publications
Books
- Max Bill, Buenos Aires: Nueva Visión, 1955, 148 pp. (English),(French),(German),(Spanish)
- Beiträge zur Terminologie der Semiotik, Ulm: Ebner, 1961. (German)
- La speranza progettuale, Einaudi, 1970, 146 pp. (Italian)
- Design, Nature, and Revolution: Toward a Critical Ecology, trans. Mario Domandi, New York: Harper & Row, 1972, xi+139 pp. (English) Commentary: Sadler (2013).
- Environnement et idéologie. Vers une écologie critique, trans. Giovanni Joppolo, Paris: Union générale d'éditions, 1972, 192 pp. (French)
Articles
- "Neue Entwicklungen in der Industrie und die Ausbildung des Produktgestalters / New Developments in Industry and the Training of the Designer / Les nouvelles perspectives industrielles et la formation du 'designer'", ulm 2 (Oct 1958), pp 25-40, HTML (de). (German)/(English)/(French)
- "Design-Objekte und Kunst-Objekte / Design-Objects and Art-Objects", ulm 7 (Jan 1963), pp 18-32, HTML (de). (German)/(English)
- "Ist das Bauhaus aktuell? / Is the Bauhaus Relevant Today?", ulm 8-9 (Sep 1963), pp 5-13, HTML (de). (German)/(English)
- with Gui Bonsiepe, "Wissenschaft und Gestaltung / Science and Design", ulm 10-11 (May 1965), pp 12-29, HTML (de), PDF (de). (German)/(English)
- "Die Ausbildung des Architekten und Produktgestalters in einer Welt im Werden / The Emergent World: A Challenge to Architectural and Industrial Design Training", ulm 12-13 (Mar 1965), pp 2-10, HTML (de). A lecture given at the Royal College of Art, London, on 4 Mar 1965. (German)/(English)
- "Die Aufgabe des Produktgestalters in der Stahlindustrie / The Role of the Industrial Designer in the Steel Industry", ulm 14-16 (Dec 1965), pp 8-15, HTML (de). (German)/(English)
- "Anstöße gegen das Behagen in der Design Erziehung / How to Fight Complacency in Design Education", ulm 17-18 (Jun 1966), pp 14-20, HTML (de). (German)/(English)
