The collection
Cylindrical yellow ice bucket with an indented ring around it and a recessed circular handle in the lid.
1972

Ice Bucket

Designed by
Sergio Asti (born 1926)
Material
ABS plastic
Produced by
Italy for Heller, New York, New York
Dimensions
19.8 x 17.9 x 17.9 cm

The Liliane and David M. Stewart Program for Modern Design, gift of Dr. Michael Sze, 2010.68

Asti, who was trained as an architect, established his own design studio in Milan in 1955 and was a leading product designer for Danese, Heller, and other manufacturers for more than four decades. This brightly colored ice bucket is an example of the functional Italian plastic design of the 1960s and ’70s.

In place of protruding handles—the lid’s molded circular ridges and an indented groove around the bucket’s perimeter function as handles. This simple everyday object was produced in Italy for Heller in New York, best known for its stacking dinnerware by Massimo and Lela Vignelli since 1971.

The Stewart Program for Modern Design, photo: Denis Farley.