On the occasion of the 14th edition of the Festival del Legno, scheduled to take place in Cantù from 24 September to 4 October 2026, the “Fausto Melotti” State Art School, together with the “Amici del Melotti” Association and the Graphic Design Documentation Centre of AIAP, in collaboration with the Cassa Rurale ed Artigiana di Cantù BCC, presents the exhibition Franco Bassi. Insegnante e grafico. Dalla Scuola d’Arte di Cantù alla Olivetti (“Franco Bassi. Teacher and Graphic Designer. From the Cantù Art School to Olivetti”).
The exhibition, open from 26 September to 31 October 2026, has been organised to bring Franco Bassi – a leading figure in 20th-century Italian graphic design – back into the public spotlight and to explore the deep connection between his training, his years as a teacher at the Cantù School of Art, and his subsequent professional career at Olivetti.
The exhibition spans two venues, offering a complementary journey through education, the applied arts, artistic research, and industrial design.
Franco Bassi for Olivetti. Poster for the DE700 data entry systems, 1977. On the right, a poster for the TES401 electronic typewriter, 1978 (courtesy of AIAP CDPG).
At the Norberto Marchi Library of the “Fausto Melotti” Art School, the exhibition will primarily feature materials relating to the years when Bassi taught in Cantù, from 1941 to 1950: lace, embroidery, carvings, inlays, drawings, photographs and documents that bear witness to the teaching activities and the spirit of experimentation at the Art School during Romano Barocchi’s tenure as director. These materials are complemented by an initial selection of items relating to his work as a graphic designer, drawn from the Franco Bassi Collection held at the AIAP CDPG.
The headquarters of the Cassa Rurale ed Artigiana di Cantù BCC will, meanwhile, host a section dedicated to his professional work for Olivetti – where Bassi worked from 1950 to 1978 – and his artistic output. Posters, brochures and advertising materials document his contribution to the visual communication of the Electronics and Typewriting Division of the Ivrea-based company. The exhibition also includes standalone artistic works, sketches and abstract studies, highlighting the continuity between Bassi’s personal artistic exploration and his work as a graphic designer. Of particular significance is the lace piece ‘Un merletto per Piero’, produced by the Cantù Lace Cooperative based on a design by Franco Bassi in 1992 and now held in the BCC’s collection. The work bears witness to the artist’s return, decades later, to the language of lace and forms an ideal link between his years of teaching in Cantù and his subsequent design research.
“Un merletto per Piero” (“A Lace for Piero”), based on a design by Franco Bassi and created by the Cantù Lace Cooperative, 1992 (courtesy of BCC). On the right, a giraffe pierced by a spear, carved and inlaid, 1940s (courtesy of Liceo Artistico “Fausto Melotti”).
The exhibition offers an opportunity to rediscover not only the figure of Franco Bassi, on the twentieth anniversary of his death, but also the role that the Cantù School of Art played in the twentieth century in shaping Italian visual culture. This is a particularly significant exhibition within the context of the Festival del Legno, which sees Bassi’s story as a meeting point between craftsmanship, the applied arts, design, and industry.
FRANCO BASSI: INSEGNANTE E GRAFICO. DALLA SCUOLA D’ARTE DI CANTÙ ALLA OLIVETTI 26 September – 31 October 2026
Opening: 26 September 2026, H 10:00 at Liceo Artistico “Fausto Melotti“
