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Tag: arredamento

Cassina

Cassina

La Cassina was founded in 1927 in Meda, in the heart of Brianza, by the brothers Cesare and Umberto Cassina, initially for the construction of supplies for large cruise ships, including the famous Andrea Doria, the interiors of which were designed by architect Gio Ponti. Then begins a historic partnership between Cassina and Gio Ponti, consolidated in the 50s, which will lead to the creation of many masterpieces of Italian design, among them the chair called “Superleggera”, weighing 1.66 kg, an intelligent and cultured rereading of the famous Chiavarina chair, built on the Ligurian hills.
After and at the same time as Gio Ponti, promising young Italian designers, such as Mario Bellini, Achille Castiglioni, Vico Magistretti, will begin to collaborate with Cassina, belonging to what is now universally recognized as the Milanese school; thanks to the courage and flair of Cesare Cassina the company begins to identify itself as a laboratory of the best Italian design, with a careful search for ever new technologies, made available to designers, and with a constant analysis of lifestyle changes and ways of living.
At the same time as this research and collaboration with contemporary designers, thanks to the foresight and perseverance of Filippo Allison, Cassina continues a philological discourse of re-examination, rediscovery and reproduction of historical masters of Italian and international design. Thus an independent catalog was born, called “The Masters” to be added to the contemporary one, where the proposals of Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand, Gerrit Rietveld, Frank Lloyd Wright find space, up to the recent acquisitions of the archives and rights of the works of Franco Albini and Marco Zanuso. To carry out this project correctly and philologically, the company relies on the collaboration of the foundations in charge, where they were created as in the case of the Le Corbusier Foundation, or direct heirs.
In more recent years Cassina has experimented with the collaboration with contemporary designers of various origins, such as the French Philippe Starck, the Italian Piero Lissoni or the Spanish Patricia Urquiola, always maintaining that common thread of research, experimentation and innovation in the world of living. The most recent projects, after the Cassina family leaves the scene, are entrusted to artistic directors, such as the current Patricia Urquiola, who try to give an interpretation of the Cassina world, also re-reading some classics with the inclusion of colors and finishes. new.
The catalog dedicated to the Masters, each year enriched with new projects with the approval of the Foundations and heirs, remains the most brilliant and commercially successful example of how historical design can survive many experiments that are sometimes unnecessary. An example of this enrichment is the dialogue carried out by the company with Pernette Perriand, children of Charlotte Perriand, which allowed the rediscovery of the figure of this great designer, mistakenly overshadowed by the master Le Corbusier, and many of his little-known projects from the general public.

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Molteni&C - mobili e design, sedie, divani, tavoli, arredi

Molteni

Molteni & C was founded as a craft company in 1934 in Giussano in the province of Milan (later in the province of Monza and Brianza), by Angelo Molteni, a businessman from Brianza, among the promoters of the Milan International Furniture Fair, which will see its first edition in 1961 In the first post-war period the company made furniture starting from the trunk and covering all the production phases and in the mid-1950s it participated in the first “Selective Exhibition – International Furniture Competition” in Cantù, with a project by the Swiss architect Werner Blaser, a pupil by Alvar Aalto and assistant to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who wins first prize. The chest of drawers, with the triple fork geometric joint, is the first prototype of modern furniture and has recently been reworked in a precious numbered and certified edition.
1968 is the year of the revolution: in a few months, production is converted from classic to modern, to create well-designed furniture, designed for the series; Luca Meda, a pupil of the Ulm School, is the man of the revolution, his Iride containers presented at the Salone del Mobile in 1968. The following year the complete conversion to design furniture took place, followed by the purchase of the Unifor companies and Citterio, in the office sector and, in 1979, of Dada, a kitchen furniture company. Over the years Molteni & C therefore becomes a reality for the production of furniture.
During the artistic direction entrusted to Luca Meda, the architects Aldo Rossi and Afra and Tobia Scarpa are called to design for Molteni; Aldo Rossi will design some now iconic furnishings such as the theater sofa, the weekly Carteggio and the Milano chair, rare examples of the Maestro’s forays into the world of design.
In the 1990s, however, collaboration began with some Italian and international designers, including Jean Nouvel, Foster and Partners, Patricia Urquiola, Rodolfo Dordoni, Hannes Wettstein.
In 1994 Molteni & C received the Compasso d’Oro for Lifetime Achievement. “Among the protagonists of the Italian furniture culture”, says the jury, “he has been able to present an offer of products designed with constant dignity, safe quality and a broad vision of the cultural context”. In the same year Jean Nouvel designed the Fondation Cartier in Paris, Molteni created all the furnishings through Uniforo: thus the Less series was born, an icon of design in the world, tables with minimal thickness and with elementary and rigorous shapes.
In early 2000 To support international expansion, Molteni & C created the Padded division and, in a few years, established itself among the best international manufacturers with the projects of Patricia Urquiola, Ferruccio Laviani, Rodolfo Dordoni, Hannes Wettstein and Ron Gilad and many others.
In 2012 Molteni & C presented the Gio Ponti Collection at the Salone del Mobile, furnishings never mass produced by the great Milanese architect, in collaboration with Gio Ponti Archives. The collaboration between Molteni and Gio Ponti’s heirs continues annually thanks to an exclusive agreement for the rights of the Maestro’s projects.
The Molteni Group recently celebrated 80 years of activity with an exhibition at the Modern Art Gallery in Milan, entitled 80! Molteni. With an installation curated by Jasper Morrison and the graphic project by Studio Cerri & Associati, prototypes and furnishings from all the companies of the Group recount, for the first time, 80 years of experience, quality and innovation. The exhibition has become the core of the Molteni Museum in Giussano.
As of April 2016, Belgian architect and designer Vincent Van Duysen has been appointed creative director of the Molteni & C brands; after the success of the Gliss Master collection of wardrobes, the new collaboration focuses on coordinating the image and the design and artistic choices of the group.
Born as a company specialized in the production of systems, today the company still fully produces in Italy an integral offer for the home, from containers to upholstered items, from chairs to tables … flanked by a contract division that manufactures cruise ships, theaters , museums, hotels, restaurants and collective residences.

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