Founded in 1927 as “Cassina Amadeo – Fabbrica Tavolini,” now simply “Cassina,” the company is synonymous with the essence of Italian Design – combining eighty years of manufacturing experience and working with the world’s greatest design talent, the company produces the most desirable and iconic furniture currently available. Hailing from Brianza, and in particular Meda – a region and town famous historically for the vocation of furniture production, the company is built on a long family tradition of woodworking, traceable with the Cassina family name to the eighteenth century – as evidenced by the fine woodworking in Como cathedrals pulpit, created by Cassina craftsmen in the 1760’s! The founding partners were brothers Cesare and Umberto Cassina. Umberto, the elder brother, responsible for administration and management, whilst Cesare having trained in Milan as an expert upholsterer is seen as the main creative spirit of the company. The company developed from its original artisan workshop productions to a fully industrialised manufacturing process going through various key periods and collaborations along the way.
The Cassina-Gio Ponti collaboration was enormously significant, as can be seen with the evolution of the Leggera and Superleggara chairs, which quintessentially combine elements of a great artisan tradition with a contemporary design, all in a chair that is both functional, desirable and aesthetically pleasing – it was this synthesis of elements, which resulted in the success at translating the design and production into a product with a broad appeal. In the 1950’s, work included design solutions & furniture for the great ocean liners interiors, this also involving much collaboration with Gio Ponti who became the companies first artistic advisor. In the mid-sixties the Cassina I Maestri collection concept was born, combining both a classic and contemporary collection, featuring amongst others such great designers as Bellini, Deganello, Magistretti, Scarpa, Kita, Pesce and more recently Stark and Wettstein. At the end of the nineteen fifties the collaboration with Vico Magistretti began, producing a framework of products which are still relevant today – these include the Maralunga sofa, the Nuvola Rossa collection and the Sindbad sofa with its renowned horse blanket covering.
No less significantly through the 1960’s, and through a close working partnership with Dino Gavina who was exploring and reproducing the great Marcel Breuer collections, Cesare Cassina not only founded Flos, but also began his own exploration of modernism resulting in the purchasing of the design and production rights to the Corbusier Collection in 1964, (pic of the owl man here) the Rietveld collection in 1971 (pic of Red & blue) The Charles Rennie Mackintosh collection and later the rights to Asplund, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charlotte Perriand and in 2004 the first Italian master Franco Albini. After the deaths (within days of each other) of Cesare Cassina & Gio Ponti the company gradually expanded its horizons into an international and global brand – In 1971 70% of production was consumed by the domestic market, by 1990 70% was exported internationally – the increasingly global focus was reflected in new designs by such great designers as Gaetano Pesce, Achille Castiglioni, Sottass Associates
, Jorgi Pensi and many others. Currently, and since the 1990’s the work of Phillipe Starck has writ large through the contemporary collections which has been countered by the companies longstanding collaboration with Pierro Lissoni – bringing a great contrast with his austere and rigorous approach. Alongside these two heavyweight designers feature the work of many contemporaries such as Jehs + Laub, Rodolfo Dordoni and Jean-Marie Massaud. Finally, and through its acquisition by the Poltrona Frau group, Cassina heads up a group of companies which include Alias, Cappellini, Gufram, Gebruder Thonet and recently Nemo to give it the international reach that a company of its heritage and with such a wealth of design talent deserves. It is ultimately Cassina’s challenge and goal to translate its heritage and history, combined with current technology and design, to produce contemporary and historic pieces which develop historical memory into elements which can form part of a current and living environment.
Cassina is now a global brand and is a very successful one at that. Cassina UK wide and worldwide continue to product outstanding products to a high standard. La silla roja y azul. La versión original estaba pintada en negro, gris y blanco. La silla roja y azul (The Red Blue Chair en inglés) es una silla diseñada en 1917 por Gerrit Rietveld. Representa una de las primeras exploraciones del movimiento de arte De Stijl en las tres dimensiones. La silla original tenía un acabado natural y luego fue pintada con la paleta de colores primarios del De Stijl: negro, gris y blanco. Sin embargo, más tarde fue cambiada para parecerse a las pinturas de Piet Mondrian cuando Rietveld entró en contacto con la obra del artista en 1918. Rietveld finalmente se unió al movimiento De Stijl en 1919. Por su concepción extremadamente simplificada, este modelo fue concebido para ser fabricado en serie. La silla está expuesta actualmente en el Museo de Arte Moderno en Nueva York. Charlotte Fiell, Peter Fiell (2005).
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, born in Utrecht, 1888, lived his entire life in this Dutch country which is also the name given to one of his armchair designs. Rietveld worked in his father’s workshop, then as a draftsman in the workshop of a goldsmith before learning technical draftmanship from architect P.J.C. Klaarhamer. View their full profile Cassina Schroeder Low Table Cassina Utrecht Straight Sofa Cassina Red and Blue Chair A moving tribute to the city of his birth, the chair Utrecht captures the remarkable talent of the Dutch designer Gerrit T. Rietveld. A leading member of the influential movement De Stijl, Rietveld reveled in experimenting with unconventional forms and forged a unique style that later became the signature of the designer. Absolutely unique, the chair of Utrecht is visually stunning as it is comfortable with a great profile. The seat is slightly raised from the ground at an angle of inclination, while the arms and legs combine to form an 'L'.
Imaginative and timeless, the chair Utrecht is undoubtedly a legendary piece of mid-century furniture design. Measurement: W: 64 x D: 85 x H: 70 cm Material: Steel supporting frame. Polyurethane foam and polyester padding. Fabric upholstery with white fine stitching. Leather upholstery is available for the armchair and the straight sofas. Feet in black plastic material. Made to order item Gerrit Thomas RietveldGerrit Rietveld (24 June 1888-26 June 1964) was a Dutch furniture designer and architect. One of the principal members of the Dutch artistic movement called De Stijl, Rietveld is famous for his Red and Blue Chair and for the Rietveld Schröder House, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Rietveld was the son of a joiner and began work as an apprentice to his father. He afterwards set up in business as a cabinet-maker. Rietveld designed his famous Red and Blue Chair in 1917. In 1918, he started his own furniture factory, and changed the chair's colors after becoming influenced by the 'De Stijl' movement, of which he became a member in 1919, the same year in which he became an architect.
He designed his first building, the Rietveld Schröder House, in 1924, in close collaboration with the owner Truus Schröder-Schräder. Built in Utrecht on the Prins Hendriklaan 50, the house has a conventional ground floor, but is radical on the top floor, lacking fixed walls but instead relying on sliding walls to create and change living spaces. The design seems like a three-dimensional realization of a Mondrian painting. The house is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. Rietveld broke with the 'De Stijl' in 1928 and became associated with a more functionalist style of architecture known as either Nieuwe Zakelijkheid or Nieuwe Bouwen. The same year he joined the Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne. He designed the Zig-Zag chair in 1934 and started the design of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which was finished after his death. He built hundreds of homes, many of which in the city of Utrecht. His work was neglected when rationalism came into vogue but he later benefited from a revival of the style of the 1920s thirty years later.