Enzo Mari (1932–2020) was an Italian designer, artist, and theorist renowned for a rigorously ethical, research-driven approach. Trained at Milan’s Brera Academy, he emerged in the late 1950s, challenging consumerist aesthetics with functional clarity and methodological discipline. Throughout his life he always carried out a parallel career as an artist, developing autonomous bodies of work whose research fed—and was fed by—his industrial design. His long collaboration with Danese Milano yielded icons such as the 16 Animali puzzle and the Formosa and Timor calendars. In 1974 he published “Autoprogettazione?”, an open framework for self-built furniture using standard timber, articulating his belief in democratized making. Mari moved fluidly across product, graphics, exhibition design, and pedagogy, privileging method over style and durability over novelty. He produced a vast body of works and received multiple Compasso d’Oro awards. His work is held by major museums worldwide. A polemical writer and tireless critic of superficial design, he argued for social responsibility, clear construction, and lasting use—leaving a legacy of moral rigor and formal economy.