Arcana:

(SHIRE, PETER). Apartamento, 2025. 224 x 152mm, 420 Pages. Paperback. Design Monograph.

Peter Shire’s Grand Tour: A Snapshot of Design History, 1980–1989, edited by Christoph Radl, is a deeply personal photo diary chronicling the decade of Memphis—‘the last design revolution’, headed by maestro Ettore Sottsass, the leaning tower of Italian design. Peter didn’t know it at the time, but his snapshots of Italy in the ‘80s (with a sidequest to Vienna) were the serendipitous beginning, middle, and end of something big. Peter Shire’s Grand Tour pairs candid pictures with personal interludes to trace the heady, unpolished brilliance of a movement before it knew what it was. With the unwitting eye of a tourist-turned-historian, Peter’s camera captured it all—from Caravaggio at the Uffizi to storefronts of women’s lingerie shops and beautiful sunsets, alongside rogue selfies and a cast of Memphis Group legends including Ettore Sottsass, Alessandro Mendini, and Matteo Thun.

Christoph Radl, art director and graphic designer, moved to Milan in the ‘70s, getting his golden chance to work at the studio Sottsass Associati in 1980. From there, he went on to become the graphic designer of Memphis and has been friends with Peter ever since. ‘I was there too, and I had no idea what was going on … It took me many years before I finally started to understand what I’d been a witness to. But I didn’t take pictures. Fortunately, Peter did’. 9788409704866

Inventory Number: I00250506