Christmas Cards by legendary designers on view in Milan

Milan’s Settantaventidue gallery has gathered an impressive collection of Christmas cards, created between the 1940s and 1970s by some of the most celebrated art directors and graphic designers of the past century (on view until 6 January 2024). The lineup sounds like a who’s who of design, from Bob Noorda to Ettore Sottsass, Bruno Munari, A G Fronzoni and Vittorio Gregotti among many more.

Christmas cards by iconic designers

Over 100 greeting cards on view have been selected by  Studio Bruno Tonini (a publishing house specialising in fine art publications), with the help of art director Luca Pitoni. 

These are not your run of the mill Christmas cards, they range from the colourful and humorous to the esoteric, hand-drawn or featuring type and photography, each of them an incredible glimpse into its creator’s approach to design and holiday greetings. 

Some cards are self-celebrating, like Gio Ponti’s rendition of his Pirelli skyscraper, which was under construction in 1958 and reproduced in black and white under construction on a multi-folded card. Some played with traditional Christmas motifs, from Albe Steiner’s mistletoe to Remo Muratore’s Christmas bauble and Vittorio Gregotti’s pile of wrapped presents. But there is also A G Fronzoni’s minimalist Santa, Studio Boggeri’s dotted Christmas tree and several playful objects and compositions, from Studio Stile’s ‘giochino’ (little toy) to once again Boggeri’s compositions of transparent coloured paper to create different festive effects. 

These designers ‘all engaged in what used to be a mandatory exercise of style: confronting the stereotypes of seasonal greetings,’ reads a note accompanying the exhibition. ‘The result is a precious collection of delicate visual surprises in which each designer shows his or her style with little or no compromise: Instagram before Instagram even existed, in a hardware version.’