BOOK: MADE IN CASSINA

Cassina has always been set apart from other furniture manufacturers by the

broad sweep of their product range and the various ideologies it has happily

embraced. Best known in the modern era as holders of the furniture license

for Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Charlotte Perriand, Le Corbusier, et al, the

company was also at the cutting edge of innovation in the 60s and 70s,

helping to demystify modernism as it evolved into a colourful, neo-utopian

blend of technology and fashion, thanks to designers like Vico Magistretti,

Mario Bellini and Gaetano Pesce. As a result, Cassina neatly bridged the gap

between modern and post-modern, heading up Italy's claim to being the global

centre for the 80s-era explosion in colour, pattern and formal innovation in

furniture design. The company has also had forays into nautical design,

building Gio Ponti's splendid interior for the ill-fated Andrea Doria and

several other examples of ocean-going originality. The company, founded in

1927, placed craft at the top of its agenda from the outset, an attitude

that helped attract the best designers. This monograph brings together

interviews with those pioneers as well as sumptuous illustrations of the

objects they created.