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Dr Catharine Rossi

Senior Lecturer in Design History

Catharine Rossi

Contact

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About

I am a design historian interested in researching, teaching and communicating expertise and ideas about design past and present for a wide range of communities. I joined Kingston University in 2013, and I am Course Leader for BA (Hons) Art & Design History and Practice, and Director of Research in the School of Critical Studies and Creative Industries.

I am interested in socially and politically engaged approaches to design and design history, an impulse which connects research subjects from craft to nightclubs. In 2011, I completed an AHRC CDA at the RCA/V&A Museum, which I developed into the publication Crafting Design in Italy: from post-war to postmodernism (MUP, 2015). In 2016, I led an AHRC project on China's maker culture.

Following curatorial projects on nightclubs at the Venice Architecture Biennale and Institute of Contemporary Arts, I am currently co-curating an exhibition on nightclubs and design with Vitra Design Museum for 2018. 

Areas of specialism

  • design history
  • contemporary design
  • Italian design
  • nightclubs
  • craft
  • socially and politically engaged design

Courses taught

Postgraduate

Qualifications

  • Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy, 2016
  • PhD, AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award 'Modern Craft: History, Theory and Practice', Royal College of Art/V&A Museum, London, 2011
  • MA History of Design and Material Culture (Distinction), University of Brighton, 2006
  • BA Hons Italian and Design (First Class Degree), University College London, 2005

Professional membership

AHRC Peer Review College

Associazione Italiana Storici del Design

Design History Society

Higher Education Academy

Peter Dormer Committee

She Ji: The International Journal of Design, Economics and Innovation, Peer Review Collegium

Research

I have a wide range of research interests, underpinned by a belief in the social, cultural and political significance of design past and present. This includes a focus on Italian design and craft: completed in 2011, my PhD examined craft's role in Italy's celebrated design history from 1945 to the 1980s. In 2016 I was Principle Investigator on the AHRC Newton Fund project "China's Creative Communities: Making Value and the Values of Making". I have a growing interest in nightclubs: I curated "Space Electronic: Then and Now" at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, and I am currently co-curating an exhibition on nightclubs and design with Vitra Design Museum for 2018.

I enjoy both academic writing and contributing to media that reach broader communities. My publications include Crafting Design in Italy: From Post-War to Postmodernism (Manchester University Press, 2015) and The Italian Avant-Garde: 1968-1976, co-edited with Alex Coles (Sternberg Press, 2013). I supervise post-graduate and research students in areas related to the above interests.

Research student supervision

Publications

Jump to: Article | Book | Book Section | Conference or Workshop Item | Exhibition
Number of items: 60.

Article

Rossi, Catharine (2017) Selling craft. The Architectural Review, 1438, pp. 6-11. ISSN (print) 0003-861X

Rossi, Catharine and Marshall, Justin (2017) Making with China : craft-based participatory research methods for investigating Shenzhen's Maker Movement. Digital Culture & Society, ISSN (print) 2364-2114 (In Press)

Rossi, Catharine (2016) The Crusoe condition : making within limits and the critical possibilities of fiction. The Journal of Modern Craft, ISSN (print) 1749-6772 (In Press)

Rossi, Catharine [Reviewer] (2016) Book Review of: ' Craft and the creative economy ' by Susan Luckman. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 22(3), pp. 473-480. ISSN (print) 1028-6632

Rossi, Catharine (2016) Under the hammer. Disegno, 11, pp. 113-126. ISSN (print) 2048-7770

Rossi, Catharine [Reviewer] (2015) Book Review of: "Il Design Italiano Oltre le Crisi: Autarchia, Austerita, Autoproduzione = Italian Design Beyond the Crisis: Autarky, Austerity, Autonomy" edited by Finessi Beppe and Miglio Cristina. Journal of Design History, 28(3), pp. 327-328. ISSN (print) 0952-4649

Rossi, Catharine (2015) A manmade material. Disegno, 9, pp. 180-189.

Rossi, Catharine (2015) The numbers game. Collect 2015 Catalogue, pp. 8-13.

Rossi, Catharine (2014) Architecture goes disco. AA Files(69), pp. 138-145.

Rossi, Catharine (2014) Giorgio Casali: photographer/Domus 1951–1983 - architecture, design and art in Italy. Journal of Modern Craft, 7(1), pp. 99-102. ISSN (print) 1749-6772

Rossi, Catharine (2014) Primary text: commentary and interview. Journal of Modern Craft, 7(1), pp. 75-80. ISSN (print) 1749-6772

Rossi, Catharine (2013) Design and jewellery. Disegno(4), pp. 92-109.

Rossi, Catharine [Reviewer] (2013) Book Review of: 'Makers: a history of American studio craft' by Janet Koplos and Bruce Metcalf. Journal of Modern Craft, 6(1), pp. 119-121. ISSN (print) 1749-6772

Rossi, Catharine (2013) Bricolage, hybridity, circularity: crafting production strategies in critical and conceptual design. Design and culture, 5(1), pp. 69-87. ISSN (print) 1754-7075

Rossi, Catharine (2011) How Memphis was made. Crafts(232), pp. 60-63. ISSN (print) 0306-610X

Rossi, Catharine [Reviewer] (2010) Book Review of: 'Italian design' (MoMA Design Series) by Giampiero Bosoni. Design and Culture, 2(3), pp. 366-367. ISSN (print) 1754-7075

Rossi, Catharine (2010) Commentary. Journal of Modern Craft, 3(2), pp. 225-226. ISSN (print) 1749-6772

Rossi, Catharine [Reviewer] (2010) Book Review of: 'Craft, space and interior design, 1855-2005' edited by Sandra Alfoldy and Janice Helland. Design and Culture, 2(1), pp. 115-117. ISSN (print) 1754-7075

Rossi, Catharine (2010) An Enquiry on Handicrafts "Points of View: An Enquiry on Handicrafts (Où en sommes-nous avec l'artisanat?)," Zodiac no. 4/5, 1959. The Journal of Modern Craft, 3(2), pp. 227-251. ISSN (print) 1749-6772

Rossi, Catharine (2009) Furniture, feminism and the feminine: women designers in post-war Italy, 1945 to 1970. Journal of Design History, 22(3), pp. 243-257. ISSN (print) 0952-4649

Book

Kries, Mateo , Eisenbrand, Jochen and Rossi, Catharine, eds. (2018) Night fever: designing club culture, 1960-today. Weil am Rhein, Germany : Vitra Design Museum. 399p. ISBN 9783945852248

Rossi, Catharine (2015) Crafting design in Italy : from post-war to postmodernism. Manchester, U.K. : Manchester University Press. 304p. (Studies in Design) ISBN 9780719089404

Coles, Alex and Rossi, Catharine, eds. (2013) The Italian avant-garde: 1968 - 1976. Berlin, Germany : Sternberg Press. 224p. (EP) ISBN 9783943365498

Book Section

Rossi, Catharine (2018) The maker 2.0: a craft-based approach to understanding a new creative identity. In: Armstrong, Leah and McDowell, Felice, (eds.) Fashioning Professionals: Identity and Representation at Work in the Creative Industries. London, U.K. : Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 181-201. ISBN 9781350001848

Rossi, Catharine (2018) In the media: Italy's radical pipers in the 1960s and 1970s. In: Kries, Mateo , Eisenbrand, Jochen and Rossi, Catharine, (eds.) Night fever: designing club culture, 1960-today. Weil am Rhein, Germany : Vitra Design Museum. pp. 24-39. ISBN 9783945852248

Rossi, Catharine and Eisenbrand, Jochen (2018) Introduction. In: Kries, Mateo , Eisenbrand, Jochen and Rossi, Catharine, (eds.) Night fever: designing club culture, 1960-today. Weil am Rhein, Germany : Vitra Design Museum. pp. 14-23. ISBN 9783945852248

Rossi, Catharine (2017) Design after dark: the radicals and the architecture of discos. In: Didero, Maria Cristina, (ed.) Superdesign: Italian radical design, 1965-75. New York, U.S. : The Monacelli Press. pp. 86-93. ISBN 9781580934954

Rossi, Catharine (2017) Ettore Sottsass, India and ceramics as tools for meditation. In: Schenini, Elio, (ed.) On the paths of enlightenment: the myth of India in Western culture, 1808-2017. Milan, Italy : Skira. pp. 522-545. ISBN 9788857236667

Rossi, Catharine (2016) Compasso D'Oro. In: Edwards, Clive, (ed.) The Bloomsbury encyclopedia of design. London, U.K. : Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 274. ISBN 9781472521545

Rossi, Catharine (2016) Domus (1928-). In: Edwards, Clive, (ed.) The Bloomsbury encyclopedia of design. London. U.K. : Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 431-431. ISBN 9781472521545

Rossi, Catharine (2016) ENAPI Ente Nazionale Dell'Artigianato e Delle Piccole Industrie (National organization for craft and small industries) (1928-78). In: Edwards, Clive, (ed.) The Bloomsbury encyclopedia of design. London. U.K. : Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 473-473. ISBN 9781472521545

Rossi, Catharine (2016) Memphis. In: Edwards, Clive, (ed.) The Bloomsbury encyclopedia of design. London. U.K. : Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 372-374. ISBN 9781472521552

Rossi, Catharine (2016) Politecnico di Milano (Milan Polytechnic) (1863-). In: Edwards, Clive, (ed.) The Bloomsbury encyclopedia of design. London, U.K. : Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 61. ISBN 9781472521569

Rossi, Catharine (2016) Postmodernism and design. In: Edwards, Clive, (ed.) The Bloomsbury encyclopedia of design. London, U.K. : Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 78-84. ISBN 9781472521569

Rossi, Catharine (2016) SWID Powell. In: Edwards, Clive, (ed.) The Bloomsbury encyclopedia of design. London, U.K. : Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 288-289. ISBN 9781472521569

Rossi, Catharine (2016) Squaring up to Superstudio: grids, modularity and utopianism in Italian Radical Design. In: Meltzer, Burkhard and von Oppeln, Tido, (eds.) Rethinking the modular. London, U.K. : Thames & Hudston. pp. 126-153. ISBN 9780500292358

Rossi, Catharine, du Pasquier, Nathalie, Scarponi, Antonio and Seymour, Jerszy (2016) There is always an alternative: systems and production. In: Meltzer, Burkhard and Von Oppeln, Tido, (eds.) Rethinking the modular. London, U.K. : Thames & Hudson. pp. 44-57. ISBN 9780500292358

Rossi, Catharine (2015) Abitare (1961-). In: Edwards, Clive , Atkinson, Harriet , Bhagat, Dipti , Kettley, Sarah , O'Brien, Sorcha , Raizman, David and Willis, Anne-Marie, (eds.) The Bloomsbury encyclopedia of design. London, U.K. : Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 4. ISBN 9781472521545

Rossi, Catharine (2015) From East to West, and back again : Utopianism in Italian Radical Design. In: Blauvelt, Andrew, (ed.) Hippie Modernism: the struggle for Utopia. Minneapolis, U.S. : Walker Art Center. ISBN 9781935963097

Dalla Mura, Maddalena [Interviewer] and Rossi, Catharine [Interviewee] (2014) Learning between past and present: Interview with Catharine Rossi by Maddalena Dalla Mura. In: Camuffo, Giorgio , Dalla Mura, Maddalena and Mattozzi, Alvise, (eds.) About learning and design. Bolzano, Italy : Bozen-Bolzano University Press. pp. 81-86. ISBN 9788860460677

Rossi, Catharine (2014) A history of socially engaged craft. In: UNSPECIFIED, (ed.) Hidden agenda: socially conscious craft. Crafts Council.

Rossi, Catharine (2014) Craft and 'Made in Italy'. In: Stanfill, Sonnet, (ed.) The glamour of Italian fashion since 1945. London, U.K. : V&A Publishing. pp. 94-103. ISBN 9781851777761

Rossi, Catharine (2014) Crafting a design counterculture: the pastoral and the primitive in Italian radical design, 1972-1976. In: Lees-Maffei, Grace and Fallan, Kjetil, (eds.) Made in Italy: rethinking a century of Italian design. London, U.K. : Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780857853882

Rossi, Catharine (2014) Swiss army knife, Switzerland (Karl Elsener, Victorinox, 1891). In: Lees-Maffei, Grace, (ed.) Iconic designs: 50 stories about 50 things. London, U.K. : Bloomsbury Visual Arts. pp. 206-209. ISBN 9780857853523

Rossi, Catharine (2014) A new domestic landscape. Catharine Rossi on the environments of Joe Colombo and Superstudio. In: Grima, Joseph , Bagnato, Andrea and Shafrir, Tamar, (eds.) sqm: the quantified home. Zurich, Switzerland : Lars Müller. pp. 50-59. ISBN 9783037784532

Rossi, Catharine (2013) Between the nomadic and the impossible: radical architecture and the Cavart Group. In: Coles, Alex and Rossi, Catharine, (eds.) The Italian avant-garde. Berlin, Germany : Sternberg Press. pp. 43-66. (EP) ISBN 9783943365498

Rossi, Catharine (2013) Craft: the future in the making. In: Held, Peter and Sealy Lineberry, Heather, (eds.) Crafting a continuum: rethinking contemporary craft. Santa Barbara : Perpetua Press. pp. 173-174. ISBN 9781469612805

Rossi, Catharine (2013) From Mari to Memphis: the role of prototypes in Italian radical and Postmodern design. In: Valentine, Louise, (ed.) Prototype: design and craft in the 21st Century. London, U.K. : Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780857856821

Rossi, Catharine (2011) Making Memphis: 'Glue culture' and postmodern production strategies. In: Adamson, Glenn and Pavitt, Jane, (eds.) Postmodernism: style and subversion, 1970-1990. London, U.K. : V&A Publishing. pp. 160-165. ISBN 9781851776597

Rossi, Catharine (2010) Foreword. In: UNSPECIFIED, (ed.) Pallet project. United Kingdom : Studiomama. pp. 5-7.

Conference or Workshop Item

Rossi, Catharine (2015) Imagining island making. In: "How We Live, and How We Might Live": Design and the Spirit of Critical Utopianism; 11-13 Sep 2015, San Francisco, U.S.. (Unpublished)

Rossi, Catharine (2015) Italian design and the American counterculture. In: "How We Live, and How We Might Live": Design and the Spirit of Critical Utopianism; 11-13 Sep 2015, San Francisco, U.S.. (Unpublished)

Rossi, Cat [Organizer of meeting] and Ungley, Portia [Organizer of meeting] (2015) What is tomorrow today? In: Tomorrow Today: Design, Fiction and Social Responsibility; 11 Jun 2015, London, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Coles, Alex [Organizer of meeting] and Rossi, Catharine [Organizer of meeting] (2015) Welcome. In: Post-Craft: Towards New Economies of Making; 06 May 2015, London, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Rossi, Catharine (2014) Made in Italy 2.0: the prominence of craftsmanship in contemporary Italian furniture design. In: Current issues in global furniture; 20 Nov 2013, Great Missenden, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Rossi, Catharine (2014) Utopian and dystopian domesticiites: the home on film in 1970s Italian radical design. In: Domestic imaginaries: homes in film, literature and popular culture symposium; 21 Jan 2014, Nottingham, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Rossi, Catharine (2013) Paper utopias: image-making in 1970s Italian radical design. In: Iconic images in modern Italy: politics, culture and society; 22-23 Nov 2013, London, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Exhibition

Eisenbrand, Jochen [Curator of an exhibition], Rossi, Catharine [Curator of an exhibition] and Serelus, Katarina [Curator of an exhibition] (2018) Night fever : designing club culture 1960 - Today. .

Rossi, Catharine [Curator of an exhibition] and Upham, Sumitra [Curator of an exhibition] (2015) Radical disco: architecture and nightlife in Italy, 1965-1975. Radical disco: architecture and nightlife in Italy, 1965-1975. .

Rossi, Catharine [Curator of an exhibition], Kelly, Ben [Designer] and Fisher, Fiona [Research team member] (2014) Space Electronic : Then and Now. 14th International Architecture Exhibition. .

This list was generated on Wed Apr 24 04:27:17 2019 BST.
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