Achille Castiglioni | Further Functions Found

Achille Castiglioni (1918-2002) Architect / Designer

Born in Milan, the epicentre of industrial design, Castiglioni graduated from Architecture in 1944 at the Politecnico di Milano University. The same year, he started a design office in with his brothers, Livio and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni. Their interests lead them to research new forms, techniques and materials, aimed at developing a process of “integral design”. Most of their theories are still taught in Universities and resonate with young designers today.
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VIDEO: During the 1989 International Design Conference of Aspen, Achille made a presentation on his affair with lighting design. His enthusiasm and sense of humour is awe-inspiring – he seems to have the energy of a much younger man.

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He often said that many professionals of the design field would tend to take their approach too seriously and greatly attributed his success to maintaining a sense of humour in his work.

Several of Castiglioni renown designs borrowed form from everyday objects. For instance, the Stella stool found a new function for a bicycle seat. The Mezzadro stool definitely adds to the appeal of an ordinary tractor seat. This theory has been coined ‘Principal Design Component’, where a design is found and then built upon.

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Arco, Mezzadro, Taccia, Sella Stool, Toio

Castiglioni has taught thousands of students throughout Italian architectural and design universities, including his own alma mater. He has received seven Compasso d’Oro awards during his career.

It is not difficult to find Castiglioni pieces as most of his designs are still in production. The Museum of Modern Art hold 14 of the Castiglioni brothers’ most important designs in their permanent collection.

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“Start from scratch. Stick to common sense. Know your goals and means.”

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Achille has produced more than one-hundred-and-fifty industrial designs.


VIDEO: Peek into the Canstaglioni brothers’ creative space in 1967.

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You likely own a lamp which includes uncredited design from Castiglioni. In 1968 Achille and Pier Giacomo designed a simple light switch(above) that could be easily applied to the electrical lead on any lamp at the time. Many manufacturers used this switch strictly because of it’s near perfect functionality and simplicity, few knew that it came from a great designer.

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Snoopy(above), created in 1967 is a table lamp, indeed inspired by the cartoon character. The sturdy marble base stabilizes the metal and glass shade.

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The Brera lamp family for Flos(left). Acid-etched flashed opaline glass diffuser. Diffuser support and element below made of opaline injection-molded polycarbonate.

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The “Dry” cutlery range(above) was designed for Alessi in 1982. Dry was Alessi’s first of many cutlery lines and a seminal product. The design was something of a reaction to the exorbitantly formal and functional Scandinavian designs emerging at the time.

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VIDEO: Jan-Willem van der Klooster at Studio Achille Castiglioni.

He was an accomplished master of industrial design who didn’t allow himself to grow up, if only for the good of those lucky enough to own one of his pieces.

Flos has begun and are continuing to produce Castiglioni’s classics with LED technology. Nancy has viewed several of these pieces in Milan and can attest that Flos is properly honouring and caring for these timeless pieces and feels that if he were still with us, Castiglioni would be proud to see his creations updated and brought up to today’s lighting standards.

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