ERBERTO CARBONI
(Parma, 1899 – Milan, 1984)
Erberto Carboni was born in Parma on November 22, 1899. After graduating with a Diploma in Architecture from the Academy of Fine Arts, Parma, in 1923, he began working as a graphics illustrator, making sketches for the principal local chrome lithographic industries, including Zanlari and Zafferri. In 1932 he moved to Milan, where he began to contribute to the magazine L’ufficio Moderno (Modern Office) edited by Guido Mazzali. Starting from the same year, he collaborated with the most prestigious Italian companies: Motta, Olivetti, Campari, Strega and Lagomarsino. As an architect he designed numerous showcases, shops, pavilions and salons for trade fairs and exhibitions, and, for the Triennial Exhibit of 1935, he transformed the facade of Palazzo dell’Arte in Milan: a prestigious project which he had been commissioned by winning an important competition.
His collaboration with Barilla began early on, in 1922, and after a sporadic collaboration in 1938, continued from 1952 until 1960 without interruption. In 1952 he won the ‘Golden Palm of Advertising’ for the Barilla campaign “Con pasta Barilla è sempre Domenica” (It’s always Sunday with Barilla pasta). In the early 1950's he carried out numerous prestigious projects for other important companies such as Bertolli, Pavesi, Crodo, Bourbon and Montecatini. He collaborated for many years with RAI-TV, for which he designed various pavilions at the Milan Fair and, starting in 1956, created its logo, test pattern and animated call signs. In addition to advertising graphics and book illustration, he also worked as a set designer for La Scala and for the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
In 1954 Carboni designed the 'Delfino' armchair, which stands as a quintessential representation of the “organic” furniture movement that emerged in the 1950s, delicately mirroring the elegance and fluidity found in nature’s contours. Those who knew him have described him as an elegant man; highly cultured, intelligent and well mannered. In his later years his passion for ‘pure’ painting led him to intensify the artistic pictorial production that he had always continued. He exhibited his work Totem 36, a 6 meters high steel sculpture for the Venice Biennial International Exhibition, and held several personal exhibits at the Naviglio in Milan (1973) and the Cavallino in Venice (1972). In 1982 the City of Parma staged an important anthology exhibition of his work. He died in Milan in 1984 at the age of 85, after a career of rare intensity.