In 1960, Cinzia Ruggeri, just 18, was busy hosting her first exhibition at Galleria del Prisma in Milan. A text by the great Italian author Dino Buzzati accompanied the show. “Cinzia Ruggeri is 18, she paints, lives in Milan, and in her house, she has a vertical piano which she doesn’t play,” wrote Buzzati. “But one day, she found papers on the floor, and figured some rude person had scattered musical notes. That’s how music entered her life.” An aura of surrealism never left Ruggeri. She went on to study design, apprenticed at the couture house Carven, and became a leading light of 1980s Italy, floating from playful furniture design to lighting, from apparel to accessories. Ruggeri died in 2019, but her indomitable spirit is celebrated in this major retrospective. —Elena Clavarino

Travels to: Goldsmiths, University of London (October 8 – January 15)