Cassina S.p.A.

Cassina S.p.A.
Founded1927
FounderCesare and Umberto Cassina
Headquarters
Italy
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsFurniture
OwnerPoltrona Frau Group
WebsiteCassina S.p.A.

Cassina S.p. A. is an Italian manufacturing company specialised in the creation of high-end designer furniture.[1]

Origins

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Carimate Chair designed by Vico Magistretti in 1959 and produced by Cassina

The "Amedeo Cassina" company was created by the brothers Cesare and Umberto Cassina in 1927 in Meda, Brianza, (Northern Italy).[2] After the war, Cassina continued to expand in size and fame, with products which covered a broad range of furniture including: chairs, armchairs, tables, sofas and beds.[3]

History

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The company's transformation was bolstered further by commissions for cruise ships,[4][5] top end hotels and restaurants which accounted for a great part of the company's activity right up to the mid-sixties and beyond.[6]

In 1964 the "Cassina I Maestri" (Cassina Masters) Collection was born, with the acquisition of the rights to products designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, the most important names of 20th century design. These included the LC1, LC2,[7][8][9][10] and LC3 armchairs,[11] and the LC4 chaise longue. Today Cassina is the exclusive worldwide licensee of the Le Corbusier designs.[12]

The "Cassina I Maestri" collection was widened in 1968 with the acquisition from Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin of reproduction rights to some of the Bauhaus objects and, in 1971, the designs of Gerrit Rietveld, Frank Lloyd Wright, and of Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1972.[13] The Masters collection continued with the re-issue in 1983 of furniture by Erik Gunner Asplund, the acquisition from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation of rights of reproduction (1986) of furniture by Frank Lloyd Wright, including the Barrel chair (1937), and, finally, in 2004 furniture by Charlotte Perriand.[14]

The 1972, the New York Museum of Modern Art exhibition, "Italy: the New Domestic Landscape" curated by Emilio Ambasz, was co-sponsored Cassina.[15] In 2005 Cassina was purchased by the Poltrona Frau Group.[16]

LC2 armchair designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and Charlotte Perriand (1928) and Eileen Gray side table
Nuage bookcase designed by Charlotte Perriand

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Goliath Business Knowledge on demand
  2. ^ "Cassina, Cesare". Treccani. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  3. ^ "Cassina Profile". Architonic. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  4. ^ Abitare. Editrice Segesta. 2008. p. 165. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  5. ^ Silvana Annicchiarico (2003). Custom-built: the concept of unique in Italian design. Charta. p. 94. ISBN 9788881584338. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  6. ^ "AN INTRODUCTION TO CASSINA CONTRACT DIVISION" (PDF). p. 6. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  7. ^ Von Gastautor (November 28, 2014). "Das Doppeljubiläum von Le Corbusier" (in German). Interior Design. Archived from the original on 2015-01-22. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  8. ^ "Cassina I Maestri". Espresso. 1990. p. 60. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  9. ^ Blue Print. Wordsearch Limited. 2007.
  10. ^ "Authentic Wood by Le Corbusier at Cassina". Dezeen Magazine. January 22, 2011. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  11. ^ Patricia Sheridan (May 18, 2011). "Outdoor living: Indoor style design and comfort don't stop at the back door". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  12. ^ Kate Watson-Smyth (September 20, 2013). "Design classic: The LC4 Chaise Longue by Le Corbusier". Financial Times. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  13. ^ "Cassina inaugura un nuovo branded space a Palermo" (in Italian). Palermo Today. November 8, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  14. ^ "La historia de Cassina y el diseño a través de una exposición con 18 de sus emblemáticas sillas" (in Spanish). Interiores Minimalistas. December 9, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  15. ^ Gino Moliterno (2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Italian Culture. Routledge. p. 399. ISBN 9781134758760. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  16. ^ Chiara Alessi (February 18, 2014). "The Poltrona Frau Issue". Domus Web. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
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