Ballo & Ballo: Photography and Design in Milan 1956–2005

In the 1950s, Aldo Ballo and Marirosa Toscani established what was to become Italy’s premier commercial photography studio, specializing in furniture and product design. Together with a team of architects, designers, artists and magazine editors, they created the most iconic images of postwar Italy’s most iconic designs. This publication of Ballo & Ballo’s work highlights both their prominence in the design world as well as their prolific output. Products from Arflex and Poltronova sit alongside designs by Archizoom, Ugo Marano and Cini Boeri. Their images brilliantly capture a pivotal yet ultimately ephemeral moment in Italian design, one that defined the country as a paragon of style. The Ballo & Ballo Archive was donated to the Civico Archivio Fotografico of Milan in 2022, and thorough research has allowed several previously unpublished images to be featured in this catalog for the first time.