Cassina, 90 years of elegance and daring

The famous Italian furniture manufacturer Cassina is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. The prestigious Italian company, an icon of Made in Italy and now owned by the Poltrona Frau group, has produced some of the most famous pieces of international design of the 20th century. A look back at an extraordinary saga... In 1927, brothers Cesare and Umberto Cassina founded their company in Meda, north of Milan, in the Lombardy region. At the start of their adventure, the two entrepreneurs specialised in the production of furniture for cruise ships, as well as for top-of-the-range hotels and restaurants. Historically, the town of Meda was already known for producing chairs. The eldest son, Umberto, looks after the administrative and financial management of the company, leaving the creative and productive side of the business to his younger brother. The company produced classic wooden furniture. It was not until the early 1950s that the family business began to forge links with Italian designers. Gio Ponti Gio Ponti (1891-1979), the famous architect and designer who created the magazine Domus, began working with the Cassina brothers. The result was a series of elegant chairs, including the Leggera Leggera model 646 (1952) and the Superleggera Superleggera (model 699) (1957), a highly sought-after icon. [caption id="attachment8699" align="aligncenter" width="512"] Leggera chairs, Gio Ponti, Cassina, 1952[/caption] [caption id="attachment8700" align="aligncenter" width="554"] Leggera chairs, Gio Ponti, Cassina, 1952 Leggera chairs, Gio Ponti, Cassina, 1952[/caption] The second major encounter for Cassina was with Vico Magistretti , a great talent in post-war Italian design who was also an architect and who sought simplicity in his designs. Free, cultured and of his time, Vico Magistretti influenced the refined and elegant style of the Italian publisher for two decades. [caption id="attachment8701" align="aligncenter" width="364"] Set of 4 Carimate chairs, designed by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, 1960[/caption] [caption id="attachment8702" align="aligncenter" width="498"] Maralunga vintage sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, 1970 Maralunga vintage sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, 1970[/caption] Even so, while the Cassina brothers were clever enough to publish the creations of key figures in Italian design such as Gio Ponti, who unofficially held the role of artistic director of the company, and Vico Magistretti, they remained attentive to the technical and societal developments of the time that were shaking up their milieu. That's why, in 1961, they brought in Francesco Binfaré (1939), an atypical profile with a creative and experimental vision of design. Under his impetus, Cassina, renowned for the quality and refinement of its wooden furniture, gradually incorporated the new materials of the time into its production, in particular the use of expanded polyurethane, which, used in the form of foam, revolutionised the industrial design of the time. In 1966 Francesco Binfaré was entrusted with the Cesare Cassina Centre - Centro Ricerche -, a design research laboratory sponsored by Cassina and CetB Italia (Cassina e Busnelli, another entity of the group that would become independent under the name BetB). Cesare Cassina and Francesco Binfaré understood the new aspirations and values of the society of the 60s. Their laboratory was the ideal playground for expressing them. In 1972, on the occasion of the now cult MoMA exhibition Italy: The New Domestic Landcape Italy: The New Domestic Landcape Italy: The New Domestic Landcape , Binfaré, with the help of architect Mario Bellini Mario Bellini, presented a new kind of concept car: the Kar-a-Sutra, a minivan on wheels fitted out to live in, the perfect hippy combi! [caption id="attachment8703" align="aligncenter" width="536"] Kar-aSutra, Mario Bellini and the Cassina Research Centre, 1972[/caption] [caption id="attachment8704" align="aligncenter" width="524"] The Kar-a-Sutra, a rolling prototype presented at MoMA in 1972. Designed by Mario Bellini and the Cassina Research Centre[/caption] Another important stage in the 1960s marked the Cassina adventure. In 1964, Cesare Cassina and the Italian entrepreneur Dino Gavina, who two years earlier had founded the Italian lighting company Flos, decided to include the great classics of modern design in the company's catalogue. They contacted Le Corbusier Le Corbusier Le Corbusier and acquired the rights to publish models by the great Swiss master. In 1965, the year Le Corbusier died, Cassina's cult collection "Cassina I Maestri" - Cassina and the Masters - took shape with a first collection of four pieces. It includes the LC4 chaise longue, a cult piece of modern design. [caption id="attachment8705" align="aligncenter" width="548"] Cassina LC4 Lounge Chair Cassina LC4 Lounge Chair, design: Le Corbusier, Perriand and Jeanneret, 1930. Officially published by Cassina in 1965. The chair is still published by Cassina, in the famous Cassina I Maestri collection[/caption] In just a few years, Cassina acquired the publishing rights to the great names of 20th-century design, including Gerrit Thomas Rietveld , Frank Lloyd Wright and later, in the 2000s, Charlotte Perriand and Franco Albini . The collection of masters continues to contribute to Cassina's reputation. Above all, by developing rigorous technical processes to manufacture historic and prestigious pieces, Cassina established its reputation as a remarkable publisher. 1979 marked the end of a cycle. Cesare Cassina, the architect of Cassina's success in the world of design, died, as did Gio Ponti. The youngest of the Cassina brothers had succeeded in forging bonds of friendship and trust with the greatest designers, such as Mario Bellini Mario Bellini and Gaetano Pesce Gaetano Pesce to whom he was very close. [caption id="attachment8706" align="aligncenter" width="462"] 401 Break chair, Mario Bellini, 1976, Cassina[/caption] [caption id="attachment8707*" align="aligncenter" width="428"] Mario Bellini, La Basilica table, 1977, Cassina[/caption] [caption id="attachment8708*" align="aligncenter" width="513"] Sit Down armchair for Cassina, 1975, design by Gaetano Pesce. A surprisingly shaped piece with a pop flavour[/caption] After a period of transition in the 80s and 90s, it was the enfant terrible of French design, Philippe Starck Philippe Starck , who woke up the sleeping beauty at the end of the last century. In his wake, designers rediscovered the incredible cultural and scientific heritage of the great house and its know-how. Today, some of the biggest names in design and architecture work with Cassina: Konstantin Grcic, Rodolfo Dordoni, Jean Nouvel, Piero Lissoni, Jaime Hayon, Oraïto, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, etc. Under the artistic direction of Patricia Uquiola Patricia Uquiola , Cassina continues to write its legend... Written by François Boutard Written by François Boutard Written by François Boutard Written by François Boutard

Cassina, 90 years of elegance and daring

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