Unwanted Innovation
The Athens Design Centre (1961–1963)
Independent Researcher Athens
This paper presents the activities of the Athens Design Centre (ADC), a largely ignored aspect of Greek design history. The ADC was founded in the early 1960s by a group of industrialists, architects, economists and other professionals, in conjunction with a scientific body, the Greek Society of Industrial Morphology (GSIM). Although the ADC was a purely private initiative, it was modelled on public institutions which were operating abroad as national agencies for the promotion of industrial design, especially the British Council of Industrial Design. The ADC was basically a commercial undertaking, whose aim was to educate producers as well as consumers on what constitutes ‘good design’. The people who conceived of this body had hoped that its operation could boost product sales and empower Greek firms in the new environment of the European Common Market. Despite high expectations, the ADC was unsuccessful and short-lived. Its private nature and the commercial stigma it bore prevented it from attracting a wider range of supporters, especially from the public sector and academia. In general, it was an over-ambitious and in a sense heroic venture, which tried to imitate too closely its international counterparts and finally played a marginal role in the Greek design scene.
Key Words: Athens Design Centre • Council of Industrial Design • design • Design Centre • Greece • Greek Society of Industrial Morphology