Fantasy: Invention, Creativity, and Imagination in Visual Communications

By Bruno Munari 
Translated and annotated by Jeffrey Schnapp

The first-ever English translation of Bruno Munari’s classic treatise on creativity, replete with new contextualizing annotations

“But isn’t imagination also fantasy? And can’t fantastic images also assume the form of sounds? Musicians speak of sonic images, sound objects. How does one invent a fish tale, an air-cooled engine, a new plastic? ... fantasy, invention, creativity think; imagination sees.”

Never before translated into English, Bruno Munari’s Fantasy, originally published in Italian in 1977, invites the reader to explore their own imagination, creativity and fantasy through a journey into Munari’s mind and work. His theory of creativity, developed in conversation with the Reggio Emilia Approach (a self-guided approach to education) and the work of Jean Piaget (a Swiss developmental psychologist who proffered a theory termed “genetic epistemology”) foregrounds the book’s journey through Munari’s design processes, both working for clients and teaching design principles to children. By turning both life and work into a classroom, Munari unlocks a path through imagination in order to access his, and in turn the reader’s, deepest sense of play.

The facsimile reprint is accompanied by new contextual annotations by Munari scholar and design historian Jeffrey Schnapp. These micro-interventions highlight the innovations that make this work as relevant today as when originally published.

Paperback
240 pages | 224 black-and-white images
Inventory Press, 2024
Originally published in 1977
4.5 x 7 inches
ISBN 9781941753705
Design History and Criticism