You’ve probably seen the Boby trolley before, even if you don’t know its name. The four-wheel cart, sometimes bright, always with open shelves and sliding compartments, is one of those accessories always on the edge of frame in photos from movie sets and artists studios—the kind of design object that’s more recognizable than classified. Designed in 1971 by Joe Colombo, it might be the single most familiar piece of post-war Italian design, even if its name (or Colombo’s) doesn’t spring to mind as easily as Eames.
