Perpetual calendar - ''Timor'' - Italy

This ''Timor'' perpetual calendar was designed in 1967 by Enzo Mari. It is without doubt one of the most significant and famous design pieces of Mari. Through this acknowledgement, the ''Timor'' calendar has been part of the collection of numerous museums like the New York’s MoMA collection and the Smithsonian collection.

As can be seen in this object, Mari has always been obsessed with the form and its close relation to the object’s function. For the design of the ''Timor'' perpetual calendar Mari was inspired by railway signs, and how effective they are at providing the information you need at a glance. He took this form and gave it a new function, a single day calendar. Of course, he used the ultimate mid-century typeface: Helvetica (1957).

The display allows you to change the day, the month and day of the week so that the user is able to choose appropriate combinations. The piece is modular, flexible, washable and transformable, all characteristics that are guaranteed by the use of plastic. Which is not a coincidence since in the 1960s, plastic (in all of its variations) became the go-to material for most of Italian design, both for the technical benefits it offered and for the powerful innovative message it conveyed. The ideology of plastic was indeed emerging also as a symbol of Italian design: it brought ideals of freedom, democracy, and equality. Therefore, Enzo Mari chose this material for the ''Timor'' perpetual calendar, considering he always held Karl Marx’s teachings and the French Revolution’s principle of “égalité” so dear.

This ''Timor'' perpetual calendar is in a new and unused condition. With original packaging and documentation.

16×9×17 cm

About the designer:
Enzo Mari (1932 - 2020) was an Italian modernist artist and furniture designer who is known to have influenced many generations of industrial designers. One of the most famous Italian designers ever lived. He started his activity with studies on visual perception and then focused his attention on games for children, graphics, design and architecture. He was awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1967, 1979, 1987 and in 2001 for his table Tavolo legato. In 2001 he published the book Progetto e passione (Project and passion) which analyses the design on a wider cultural horizon. Mari is the author of over 1500 objects, made for major Italian companies. Among these, there are Zanotta, Driade, Alessi, Danese, Artemide, Olivetti, Ideal Standard, Flou, Estel, Lema and Robots. Enzo Mari died on 19 October 2020, at the age of 88, and became, together with his wife, a victim of the corona pandemic.