Bruno Munari was born in Milan in 1907 and began artistic work at a very early age in the cultural area of Futurism: in 1927 he exhibited for the first time at collective exhibition "33 Futurist Painters" at the Galleria Pesaro in Milan. At the same time he pursued various activities as art-director, publicist and illustrator.
In 1930 he produced the "Air Machine", from which came the "Useless Machines", anticipating his interest in the destruction of the traditional work of art.
He progressively moved away from the influence of Futurism as well as the historic avant-garde which he took as a pretext to develop an extremely personal and singular style. After the war, he began work in product desing, lay-outs and toys for children, for which he is best know by the general public.
All his work is characterized by a passionate interest in the development of childrens' creativity through play which he expresses in his work with great authority. This passion is also expressed in his writings for newspapers and weeklies, in illustrations and many children's books. In 1962 he coordinated the first large exibition of kinetic art for Olivetti; in this area Munari was quite prolific, conceiving single compositions or those lending themselves to serial production.
Attracted by the simplicity of materials in Oriental culture, he travelled widely, particulary in Japan, where the influence of Zen gave him an almost philosophical attention towards the essence of objects he designed.
Towards the end of his career, he concentrated on the problem of visual and artistic education, organizing and taking an active part in courses, seminars and "animation" for children, teachers and adults in collaboration with schools and museums.
Numerous exhibitions have been dedicated to his work in galleries and the world's principal museums of contemporary art. Among the most complete were the personal at the Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione of the University of Parma in 1979, the travelling personal organized by the Museeo Fondacion Soto di Ciudad Bolivar (held in 1984 in seven Venezuelan cities) and the large retrospective which he himself organized, at Palazzo Reale in Milan in 1986.