Armchair by Kazuhide Takahama for Simon / Gavina di Cassina, Italy, 60s

The success of the lacquered models has gradually swept the world market, adding another medal to the history of Italian design.

It is in this fervor (we have reached 1970) that the Kazuki chair was born which is an example of absolute rationalism and is the first modern mass-produced piece of furniture on which glossy lacquer was applied.

Sides in MDF, seat and back in birch plywood, structure with shaped edges in a semicircular section, painted polyester with a glossy mirror finish.

Like all the furniture designed by Kazuhide Takahama, the Kazuki chair also stands out for its rigor, formal cleanliness and a language of poetic essentiality in which signs belonging to the Eastern culture, in which Kazuhide Takahama was trained, and the Western one in which he was trained are superimposed. he is immersed.

Influenced by Japanese tradition, Kazuhide Takahama with the decisive help of Dino Gavina lacquered the surfaces of his chair. It is the birth of lacquered furniture and its production technique, within the modern industrial process.

The armchair is made up of four elements entirely in orange/goose beak lacquered solid wood.

KAZUHIDE TAKAHAMA: He studied architecture in Tokyo and began working in Kazuo Fuioka's studio. He came to Italy in 1957 on the occasion of the Milan Triennale and here he met Dino Gavina with whom he collaborated for a long time. In contact with the most active Italian designers, in this lively climate of cultural exchanges, he continues to develop his own stylistic lexicon which will become increasingly more defined.

Simon by Cassina
Cassina acquires the Simon brand by Dino Gavina, two historic brands that carry forward the history of Italian design. The fundamental concept of the company, founded in 1968, is to continue to think and produce furnishing elements that have created the roots of the culture of design, furnishings that are today timeless classics that have established a dialogue between artistic research and production - Collection Ultramobile- and have overcome the limits of rationalism by elevating the project to the great traditional values ​​- Ultrarazionale Collection. The collections include works by artists such as Carlo Scarpa, Marcel Breuer, Kazuhide Takahama, Tobia Scarpa, Man Ray and Meret Oppenheim. Thus is born a perfect combination that allows historical and poetic furnishing elements to revive and still give passion to the history of design.