Biography and Works of Achille Castiglioni

Achille Castiglioni was a pioneer of Italian design and one of its most influential protagonists.

He focused on the entire field of design working from architecture to urban planning, from exhibition to furniture design, up to product and light design. He designed chairs and tables, lamps and bookcases, ashtrays, plates and cutlery, school desks and hospital beds, sinks and toilets, handles and bottle openers, coffee machines and beer dispensers and many others.

Until 1968 he always worked in close collaboration with his brother Pier Giacomo, with whom he designed some of the most famous icons in the history of modern industrial design including the Sella and Mezzadro stools, as well as the Arco and Taccia lamps.

During his 64-year career he has worked with almost all the most important Italian furniture companies including Alessi, Cassina, Danese, DePadova, Driade, Flexform, Flos, Kartell, Olivetti, Zanotta as well as with important companies such as AGIP, Brionvega, Lancia, Montecatini, RAI, Phonola, Pirelli, Rizzoli, Telecom.

A generous mentor, he collaborated with many other architects and designers including Bruno Munari, Enzo Mari, Erberto Carboni, Giancarlo Iliprandi, Gianfranco Cavaglià, Heinz Waibl, Italo Lupi, Marcello Nizzoli, Max Huber, Michele Provinciali, Pierluigi Cerri and others.

Most of the products he designed are the result of true ingenuity, humanistic culture, intelligent experimentation, technical expertise, aesthetic sensitivity and, above all, they have always achieved their practical purpose.

Biography

Achille Castiglioni (born 16 February 1918, Milan – died 2 December 2002, Milan) was born into a family with a deep appreciation for the arts, the third son of the sculptor and coin engraver Giannino Castiglioni and his wife Livia Bolla. He first studied at the Liceo Classico Giuseppe Parini, but then moved on to artistic studies at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. In 1937 he decided to follow in the footsteps of his two older brothers, the architects Livio and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, enrolling in the Faculty of Architecture at the Polytechnic of Milan, graduating in 1944 - after having had to interrupt his studies because he was stationed in Greece and Sicily during the Second World War. world War.

In 1944, immediately after graduation, Achille Castiglioni joined his brothers Livio and Pier Giacomo in the design studio they had founded with Luigi Caccia Dominioni. Fortunately for Achille, from the beginning Livio and Pier Giacomo decided to dedicate themselves almost exclusively to design of exhibitions, furniture, household items and appliances, since architectural commissions were difficult to obtain during the war. This attention to product design, and the deep fraternal bond between the three brothers, will later allow the young Achille at the beginning of his career to experiment with emerging techniques and new materials capable of communicating a fresh aesthetic sensitivity suitable for the positive vision of the future - European war market.

The development of radio Fimi Phonola 547 will prove fruitful for the three brothers, and will ultimately lead to several projects for radios and sound devices with innovative materials and shapes for which Achille Castiglioni had a key role, such as the RR 226 stereo system for Brinovega (1965), the RR radiophonograph 126 for Brinovega (1965), and the radio and record player RR 128 for Brionvega (1966)

In 1952 Livio decided to found his own studio, independent of Achille and Pier Giacomo, to deepen the exploration of radio waves, music and technology. But the three brothers would continue to collaborate closely on several projects, and the collaboration between Achille and Pier Giacomo became so close that from 1952 until 1968, when Pier Giacomo died, they were co-authors of most of their projects.

In this period the Castiglioni brothers participate in theItalian Furniture Exhibition (RIMA), where they successfully introduced a series of curved plywood furniture, and presented important projects, such as the Tubino lamp (1949), and the Luminator lamp (1955).

In 1956 he was a founding member ofADI—Industrial Design Association, the first and most important Italian design association. Honorary Royal Designer for Industry since 1986. She received an honorary degree in design from the Royal College of Art in London in 1987 and another from the Polytechnic of Milan in 2001.

A new successful and long-lasting collaboration developed in 1960, when Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni were joined by the Italian entrepreneurial designer Dino Gavina and the businessman Arturo Eisenkeil with the idea of ​​creating a completely new type of lighting fixtures. lighting using a new material, which they called “cocoon,” in the hands of the Castiglioni brothers would become a popular and iconic innovation in the 60s and would form the successful basis of the Italian lighting company FLOS, founded by Gavina and Eisenkeil in 1962.

Some important projects by lamps and objects dedicated to lighting in general, by Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni for FLOS are the Beehive (1961), the Toio lamp (1962), the Arco lamp (1962), Taccia (1962), the Snoopy (1967) and the Taraxacum 88 (1988).

In the meantime, the two Castiglioni brothers also made a name for themselves with playful and unique furnishing products: the Sello stool for Zanotta (1957), Sgabello per Telefono, a telephone stool in the shape of a bicycle saddle, and the Mezzardo, or sharecropper's stool, for Zanotta (1957); the Sanluca chair for Gavina (1961); and the Cacciavite coffee table, by Zanotta (1966).

The quality and uniqueness of Achille Castiglioni's lighting and furniture designs are evident not only by the success these products had when they were first introduced to the market, but by their ability to continue to connect with a contemporary audience. So long as many of his lighting and furniture designs are still in production today and are among the bestsellers for the various production companies.

Following the death of Pier Giacomo, Achille Castiglioni continued as a solo designer and urban planner. In 1969 he began teaching architecture and design at the Polytechnic of Turin, and from 1980 onwards, he became Professor at the Polytechnic of Milan.

During his career has received numerous awards including eight Compasso d'Oro (1955-1979)—the first and most recognized design award in the world—, a Bronze Medal from the Triennale (1947), two Silver Medals (1957, 1963), two Gold Medals (1957, 1960), and two Grand Prix of the Triennale (1951, 1954).

His work has been widely exhibited in major museums around the world including the MoMA in New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Kunstgewerbemuseum Zürich and the Vitra Museum in Weil-am-Rhein.

The works

fittings

The exhibition sector is one of the sectors where the Castiglionis are most active; also in this area the two brothers Achille and Piergiacomo are unique and visionary designers. Achille Castiglioni is defined as an "architect-director" because he is capable of setting up real scenes that gradually opened up to the visitors. The temporary setups of fairs and exhibitions were intended as tools of cultural and commercial communication.

There are many installations designed by the Castiglionis over the years - it seems almost 500 - and they involve all types of activities, companies and institutions: the RAI pavilions since the end of the 40s at the Milan Fair, the Triennali dei Milano and the Palazzo of Permanente, also in Milan; numerous pavilions for the city of Montecatini; the pavilions for ENI at the Milan Fair and numerous others for Cassina, Bernini, Autovox, Phonola, Flos, DePadova etc.

Industrial Design

The idea of ​​"integral design" perfectly summarizes the concept that underlies all the Castiglioni brothers' projects: that of which every aspect of a product, from its conception to its final realization, must take into account many factors, not just the shape, but also research into materials and the required production technologies. Achille Castiglioni continually compares himself, in his productive life, with industry and he practically knows the details of his projects, a characteristic that will lead them to be much loved and still produced today.

The lamps

Achille Castiglioni's lighting production follows the same criteria and has produced a series of objects that have not only made the history of design, but have become real cult pieces.

Taking into consideration bow, one of these iconic pieces, we can analyze how every detail is both aesthetic and practical, never an end in itself: the distance of two meters between the base and the light was to solve the problem of leaving the necessary space around the table, ensuring that no one was hindered by the floor lamp; the marble at the base was preferred to concrete because it was heavier and therefore less bulky; the marble base itself has rounded corners, to prevent impacts, and the hole that passes through it is made to be able to move it more easily.

Same goes for Brackets, evolution of a more complicated first project by Manzù, which was "stripped" by the Castiglione, simplified to make it easier to create and use, removing as much as possible until leaving only what was necessary: ​​the metal rope and a curvature of the support allow raise or lower the bulb, eliminating the screws that would have been necessary in the initial design.

Research into materials and their application is perfectly exemplified by Taraxacum, produced with/for Flos in which a sprayed polymer fibre, for military use by the US Army, is adapted to cover this piece, which takes on the appearance of an elastic membrane. A technological material is transformed when used for an everyday object.

Source images: Wikimedia Commons