torsdag 4. mai 2017

” We were thinking about a lamp that shines light onto a table. They already existed, but you had to walk round them. To leave enough space around the table, the base had to be at least two meters away. Which was how the idea for Arco came into being. We wanted to make it with commercially available parts and we found that curved steel angle iron worked perfectly well. Then there was the problem of the counterweight: a heavy weight was needed to support it all. Our first thought was concrete, but then we chose marble because the same weight took up less space, and also because we could obtain a better finish for a lower cost. In Arco nothing is decorative: even the beveled corners on the base have a function, which is not to hurt us; even the hole isn’t a flight of fantasy, but to make it easier to lift the base.” Achille Castiglioni (interview for Ottagono, 1970)
Arco 
designed by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1962

We were thinking about a lamp that shines light onto a table. They already existed, but you had to walk round them. To leave enough space around the table, the base had to be at least two meters away. Which was how the idea for Arco came into being. We wanted to make it with commercially available parts and we found that curved steel angle iron worked perfectly well. Then there was the problem of the counterweight: a heavy weight was needed to support it all. Our first thought was concrete, but then we chose marble because the same weight took up less space, and also because we could obtain a better finish for a lower cost. In Arco nothing is decorative: even the beveled corners on the base have a function, which is not to hurt us; even the hole isn’t a flight of fantasy, but to make it easier to lift the base.” Achille Castiglioni (interview for Ottagono, 1970)


Aoy
designed by Achille Castiglioni, 1975
^
Fucsia
designed by Achille Castiglioni, 1996
Parentesi
designed by Achille Castiglioni and Pio Manzu, 1971
 Taraxacum 88 S
designed by Achille Castiglioni, 1988


Luminator
designed by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, 1954




Achille Castiglioni


Italian designer,born in Milan, Italy on 16. february 1918, and passed away on 2. december in 2002.

As early as 1940 he dedicated himself to testing industrial production with brothers Livio (1911-1979) and Pier Giacomo (1913-1968). After graduating in architecture in 1944, he began research into shapes, techniques and new materials, aimed at developing an integral design process.

He was one of the founders of ADI in 1956. In 1969, he was authorized by the Ministry of Education to teach "Artistic Design for Industry" and was a professor at Turin´s Faculty of Architecture until 1980 and then professor of "Industrial Design " in Milan until 1993.

Since 1950 he has worked in the area of testing and research into outfittings and presentations for exhibitions (Triennale di Milano, Montecatini, Agip, Rai). MoMA in New York features 14 of his works. Other works can be found at:Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Kunstgewerbe Museum (Zurich), Staatliches Museum fur Angewandte Kunst (Munich), Museo del Design (Prato), Uneleckoprumyslove Prague Museum, Israel Museum (Jerusalem), The Denver Art Museum, Vitra Design Museum (Weil am Rhein),Angewandte Kunst Museum (Hamburg and Cologne).
Portrait of Archille Castiglioni