THAYAHT (Florence 1893 – Marina di Pietrasanta, Lu 1959)
Thayaht was the pseudonym of artist and designer Ernesto Michahelles, best known for his revolutionary overall design and his involvement, along with his brother Ruggero—stage name RAM—in the Italian Futurist movement. Of Anglo-Swiss origin, a descendant of the famous American neoclassical sculptor Hiram Powers, he lived in Florence since childhood. In 1915, after a brief stay in Paris, he exhibited a series of abstract drawings in Florence, coming into contact with the Florentine Futurists. The creativity of Thayaht (a perfectly “two-faced” pseudonym, readable in a mirror as in life) is emblematic of the eclectic spirit of Second Futurism: it ranges from painting to sculpture, from fashion to theater, from the decorative arts to advertising graphics, from photography to interior design. In 1918, he returned to Paris, where he enrolled at the Académie Ranson, frequented avant-garde circles, and began working as a designer in collaboration with Madeleine Vionnet, creating original designs inspired by the Deco style. The following year, upon his return to Florence, he invented and launched, with unexpected success, the T-shaped work overall, made from a single piece of fabric. Originally intended for the masses, it was initially adopted by Florentine snobbish circles. After a solo exhibition in Florence in 1920, he left for the United States, where he attended courses in scientific coloration and dynamic geometry at Harvard; during the same period, he continued his collaboration with the Vionnet fashion house. Upon returning to Italy, in the 1920s, he continued his work in the field of applied arts. A pioneer of industrial design, at the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Monza in 1923 and 1927, he exhibited not only sketches of fabrics and clothing, but also high-quality furniture and decorative objects intended for widespread distribution. He also ventured into goldsmithing, inventing “taiattite,” a silver and aluminum alloy with which he created primitive jewelry that still retains its contemporary appeal. The distinctly synthetic and geometric solutions of his painting and the dynamic imprint of his sculpture led, in 1929, to his encounter with Marinetti and his participation in the “Thirty-Three Futurists” exhibition at the Galleria Pesaro in Milan. At the same time, Thayaht, together with his friend Maraini, cultivated an interest in photography and collaborated with the Teatro dei Fidenti in Florence, designing numerous stage sets. During the 1930s he took part in the First Roman Quadrennial (1931), organised the Futurist Exhibition of Painting, Sculpture, Aeropainting, Decorative Arts at the Florence Art Gallery, took part in the Venice Biennials from 1932 to 1936 and in the Milan Triennials of 1933 and 1936. From the mid-1930s he retired to Marina di Pietrasanta, where he deepened his scientific and astronomical studies and, in the post-war period, founded the CIRNOS (Independent Centre for the Collection of News on Space Observations), with the aim of reporting and demonstrating the appearance of UFOs.