Pop design

British and Italian design movement of the 1960s which was characterized by its use of bright colours, expressive forms, synthetic materials, and throwaway objects.

In Britain the movement centred on fashion - exemplified by the work of Mary Quant and John Stephen who opened a number of boutiques in Carnaby Street - and graphics, as in the work of the psychedelic poster artists Michael English (1942- ) and Nigel Weymouth. Italian Pop design focused on furniture and product design and was best expressed in the radical work of architectural groups such as Archizoom (1966-72) and Superstudio (1966-72) which employed irony and wit in such designs as Archizoom's ‘Dream Beds’ (1967), fantasy one-off designs incorporating art deco imagery. In essence, Pop design set out to challenge and subvert establishment design values.