The magic of Castiglioni brothers

Castiglioni brothers

On December 2, 2002, died one of the most important designers in the history of Italian design, at the age of 84. A sculptor’s son, Achille Castiglioni graduated in Design by 1944. In 1956, he founded ADI, Association for Industrial Design, and between 1955 and 1979 he was awarded with several prizes and became internationally recognized.

But the myth remains alive and Castiglioni heirs have been repeatedly questioned about the possibility of producing some of the industrial design objects ever remained on paper, so today they are faced with the need of searching for manufacturers capable of producing them properly. The family’s desire to protect the cultural heritage and the design method of Achille Castiglioni, led them to carefully select the companies that could keep producing Castiglioni brothers creations.

Castiglioni's Studio and Foundation 

Among others is Meritalia which, by its quality and culture, was selected to produce the magnificent Cube armchair. With this project, dated 1957, the brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni demonstrated their ability to use innovative materials to create objects whose shape was quite different from the usual.

Regarding the CUBO armchair, Achille wrote “when a material is soft it is possible to give it a rigid shape”.

Mezzadro stool

That was why Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni thought about new armchair concept at the time and created a prototype to test new materials. The Cubo armchair was presented for the 1st time at the exhibition “Colors and Shapes in Today's Home ", in 1957, at Villa Olmo, in the Italian city of Como.

Sella stool

The armchair was built using different density foam cubes. The seat is made from a softer material, and the armrest of a more compact material. However, at that time there was still no technology capable of making the foam to return to initial shape, so it wasn’t put into production. The Castiglioni brothers wanted the armchair’s cubic shape to keep its original form when it wasn’t being used. With the body’s weight the seat should yield lower, allowing the arms to comfortably be fastened on the higher density foam sides, thereby startling the user.

Cubo armchair

With this new edition, Meritalia keeps the myth alive and today, thanks to the latest technology, it was possible to achieve the dream of Castiglioni and provide a new product in which the design expresses the use, as it is written in the book of Sergio Polan about Achille Castiglioni, "form is not understood (a priori), but it can be through action, by sitting.”

Nuno ladeiro 

More information on the product at www.meritalia.it and at www.achillecastiglioni.it