The renowned Italian furniture publisher Cassina is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. Inseparable from the history of design, the prestigious Italian house, an icon of Made in Italy, now owned by the Poltrona Frau group, has edited some of the most famous pieces of international design of the 20th century. A look back at an extraordinary saga... It was in the Lombardy region of Meda, north of Milan, in 1927, that the brothers Cesare and Umberto Cassina founded their company. At the start of the venture, the two entrepreneurs specialized in the production of furniture for the furnishing of cruise ships, as well as for high-end hotels and restaurants. Historically, the town of Meda was already known for producing chairs. The eldest son, Umberto, handles the administrative and financial management of the company, leaving the creative and productive side of the business to his younger brother. The company manufactures wooden furniture of classic construction. It wasn't until the early 1950s that the family business developed ties with Italian designers. Gio Ponti (1891-1979), the famous architect and designer, creator of the magazine Domus then begins a collaboration with the Cassina brothers. A meeting marked by the realization of elegant chair models, such as the model 646 known as Leggera of 1952 and the Superleggera (model 699) of 1957, a highly sought after iconic piece. [caption id="attachment_8699" align="aligncenter" width="512"]
Leggera Chairs, Gio Ponti, Cassina, 1952[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8700" align="aligncenter" width="554"]
Leggera chairs, Gio Ponti, Cassina, 1952[/caption]
Second momentous encounter for Cassina, that with Vico Magistretti, a great talent of post-war Italian design, also an architect, and who seeks simplicity in his pieces. Free, cultured and of his time, Vico Magistretti would imprint the Italian publisher's refined and elegant style for two decades.
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Set of 4 Carimate chairs, Vico Magistretti design for Cassina, 1960[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8702" align="aligncenter" width="498"]
Vico Magistretti's vintage Maralunga sofa for Cassina, 1970[/caption]
For all that, if the Cassina brothers have the intelligence to edit the creations of tutelary figures of Italian design such as Gio Ponti, who unofficially holds the role of artistic director of the house, and Vico Magistretti, they remain attentive to the technical and societal evolutions of the time that agitate their milieu. That's why, in 1961, they bring in Francesco Binfaré (1939), an atypical profile with a creative and experimental vision of design. Under his impetus, gradually, Cassina known for the quality and refinement of its wooden furniture, integrates into its production the new materials of the time, in particular the use of expanded polyurethane, which, used in the form of foam, revolutionizes the industrial design of the time. In 1966, Francesco Binfaré was entrusted with the Centre Cesare Cassina - Centro Ricerche -, a laboratory for design research, 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 1960s. Their laboratory was the ideal playground to express them. In 1972, on the occasion of the now cult MoMA exhibition, Italy: The New Domestic Landcape, Binfaré with the help of the architect Mario Bellini exhibits a new kind of concept car: the Kar-a-Sutra, a rolling minivan fitted out for living in, the perfect hippie combi!"
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Kar-aSutra, Mario Bellini and the Cassina Research Center, 1972[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8704" align="aligncenter" width="524"]
The Kar-a-Sutra, rolling prototype presented at MoMA in 1972. Design Mario Bellini and the Cassina Research Center[/caption]
Another important stage in the 60s marks the Cassina adventure. In 1964, Cesare Cassina, with the Italian entrepreneur Dino Gavina who two years earlier gave birth to the Italian publisher specializing in lighting, Flos, decided to include in the catalog of the house, the great classics of modern design. They then contacted Le Corbusier and acquired rights to publish models of the great Swiss master. In 1965, the year of Le Corbusier's death, Cassina's cult collection: 'Cassina I Maestri' - Cassina and the Masters - took shape with a first collection of four pieces. The LC4 chaise longue, a cult piece of modern design is featured.
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Cassina LC4 Lounge Chair, design: Le Corbusier, Perriand and Jeanneret, 1930. Published by Cassina officially in 1965. The chair is still published at Cassina, in the famous Cassina I Maestri collection[/caption]
In a few years, Cassina will acquire the publishing rights of the great names of design of the twentieth century and in particular: Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, Frank Lloyd Wright and later, in the 2000s: Charlotte Perriand and Franco Albini. The masters' collection still contributes 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. The year 1979 marks the end of a cycle. Cesare Cassina, the architect of Cassina's success in the world of design dies, as does Gio Ponti. The youngest of the Cassina brothers will have succeeded in forging bonds of friendship and trust with the greatest creators of design, such as with Mario Bellini and Gaetano Pesce, to whom he was very close.
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401 Break Seat, Mario Bellini, 1976, Cassina[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8707" align="aligncenter" width="428"]
Mario Bellini, La Basilica Table, 1977, Cassina[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8708" align="aligncenter" width="513"]
Sit Down Armchair for Cassina, 1975, design Gaetano Pesce. A surprisingly shaped piece with a pop flavor[/caption]
After a period of transition in the 80s and 90s, it was the enfant terrible of French design, Philippe Starck, who awakened 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, the greatest names in design and architecture collaborate with Cassina: Konstantin Grcic, Rodolfo Dordoni, Jean Nouvel, Piero Lissoni, Jaime Hayon, Ora ïto, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, etc... Under the artistic direction of Patricia Uquiola, Cassina continues to write its legend...
Written by François Boutard
