Biography of Achille Castiglioni

Achille Castiglioni is an Italian architect and designer Designerwho lived and worked in his hometown of Milan until his death. To this day, Achille Gastiglioni is primarily associated with a stool that is reminiscent of a tractor seat. This very Mezzadro stool was created in the 1950s by chance. Castiglioni worked in the field of architecture, curated exhibitions and made a name for himself primarily in interior design. His designs for furniture, lights and home accessories are design classics and are still produced today by manufacturers such as DePadova, Dino Gavina, Zanotti, Alessi, Stilnovo and Flos and are available from TAGWERC as licensed originals.

Castiglioni Architetti

On February 16, 1918, Lithuania declares its independence. The Republic of Lithuania is born. Some two thousand kilometers to the southwest, Achille Castiglioni sees the light of day in Milan. Achille is the third son of the sculptor, painter and architect Giannino Castiglioni and his wife Livia Bolla. Achille Castiglioni graduated in architecture from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1944 and pursued a career as a freelance architect and Designer . At the age of 26, he joined the architectural practice of his older brothers Livio (1911-1979) and Pier Giacomo (1913-1968), full of energy and ready to revolutionize and thoroughly modernize architecture. The 'Castiglioni Architetti' were born.

From architecture to industrial design

When Livio left the architecture firm in 1952 to work for the radio, Achille and Pier Giacomo carried on without him. Building commissions were rare in this post-war period, although the Castiglioni brothers, together with Luigi Fratino, were able to prevail against 16 other designs with their concept for the reconstruction of the Palazzo della Permanente. The building on Via Filippo Turati, designed by Luca Beltrami in 1881 in the neoclassical style, was extended by the Castiglioni brothers with a functionalist office tower and inaugurated in 1953. Three years later, the Chiesa di San Gabriele Arcangelo in Mater Dei followed, a Catholic parish church and one of the few architectural projects by the Castiglioni Architetti. Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni not only designed the building for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Milan, but also designed parts of the interior. The Saliscendi pendant light is the result of intuition: a system of castors allows the luminaire to be moved up or down. As the position changes, so does the light intensity - both on the table and in the surroundings. The Saliscendi pendant light is now manufactured by Stilnovo and is available from TAGWERC.

Castiglioni's credo

The Castiglioni brothers recognize the signs of the times and switch to designing home accessories and interiors. A quote from Achille Castiglioni describes his design maxim: "Less is often more, especially when it comes to design", and echoes the idea of "less is more" by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, director of the Bauhaus in Weimar and architect of classical modernism and modernism in the 20th century. The result is unconventional stools such as Sella and Mezzadro (both 1957), which transform everyday objects - a bicycle saddle and a tractor seat - into new and surprising forms and increase their utility value for the general public. In Achille Castiglioni's own words: "Design is not just about aesthetics, it is also about solving problems and improving people's lives." For his studies and as inspiration, Achille Castiglioni collected unusual everyday objects throughout his life, such as special tools and toys, which have survived to this day. In the 'Studio Museo Achille Castiglioni', the museum dedicated to the Milanese designer's work and run by the 'Fondazione Achille Castiglioni' foundation, his collection fills entire wall cupboards.

Dynamic sitting

Design as a means of solving problems - Achille Castiglioni is known for putting himself in the user's shoes and adopting the user's perspective in his designs. The Sella stool, for example, is one of the first pieces of dynamic seating furniture that encourages the user to sit actively - long before dynamic seating furniture such as the Swopper, Sitness, fitness stool and the like. When the Castiglionis set up their exhibition 'Colori e forme nella casa d'oggi' (Colours and shapes in the home today) in 1957 at Villa Olmo in Como on Lake Como, it was a simple red tractor seat mounted on a frame, which was placed in front of a desk - as a visitor's chair, so to speak. What at the time appeared to be a kind of home accessory or quirky decorative object and met with little sympathy from visitors would go into series production at Zanotta twenty years later and go down in history as the 'essence of Castiglioni'.

End 1950, beginning 1960

The Castiglioni brothers' most creative period has undoubtedly begun and it is also the period in which some Italian interior manufacturers have their roots: Martinelli Luce (1950), Zanotta (1954), Flos (1962) - to name but a few. Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni are closely associated with Flos in particular, as their designs produced by Flos are the driving force behind the Italian company's reputation for innovative lighting design.

floor lamp and pendant light in one

Flos got off to a flying start in 1962 with Castiglion's Arco arc lamp. The floor lamp is pendant light at the same time. A hybrid whose expansive metal arch is held by a 60 kilogram block of marble from the Carrara quarries. The table lamp Taccia and the floor lamp Toio are dated to the same year. The latter consists of a car headlight perched on a steel rod and the Pitagora espresso machine for the renowned manufacturer of portafilter machines La Cimbali. Further lamp designs produced by Flos followed: Parenthesi (1970), the table lamp Lampadina , the table- and wall light Noce (both 1972), Aoy (1975), Bibip (1976), Frisbi (1978), Gibigiana (1980), Moni and Giovi (both 1982), Stylos (1984), Traxacum (1988), Brera (1992), Fucsia (1996) and Diabolo (1998).

Milan - stronghold of design

Castiglioni's home city of Milan, the second largest city in Lombardy, is undoubtedly the center of design, where the 'Salone del Mobile Milano', the world trade fair for interior design, takes place. When the 'Associazione per il Disegno Industriale' (ADI), the association for industrial design, was founded in Milan in 1956, Achille Castiglioni was one of the founding members. But this was not the only way Gastiglioni made a name for himself in the field of design. After receiving a teaching license for 'artistic design for industry' from the 'Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione', the Ministry of Public Education, Castiglioni taught at the 'Politecnico di Torino' from 1969 to 1980. This was followed by a full-time professorship in industrial design at the Politecnico di Milano until 1993.

Honorary doctorate for industrial design

Achille Castiglioni has been awarded numerous prizes, including nine Compasso d'Oro alone. He received honorary prizes, was an honorary member of various international design faculties and was awarded an honorary doctorate in industrial design by the Politecnico di Milano in 2001. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York alone owns 14 of his design classics. Design museums around the world show Achille Castiglioni's designs: the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Kunstgewerbe Museum in Zurich, the State Museum of Applied Arts in Monaco, the Museo del Design in Prato, Umeleckoprumyslove Museo in Prague, Israel Museum in Jerusalem, The Denver Art Museum in the Texan capital, Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Cologne and Hamburg.

Two heads on one body

In the midst of his success, the shock came in 1968: one of the hardest blows for Achille Castiglioni was certainly the early death of his brother Pier Giacomo. Just as the Castiglioni Architetti company was really taking off, Pier Giacomo died in 1968 at the age of just 55. "Like two heads on one body" is how the 'Corriere della Sera', Italy's highest-circulation daily newspaper, describes the relationship between the two brothers - not only in family terms, but above all in professional terms. Achille doesn't let on, just carries on and pretends that Pier Giacomo is still there, sitting by his side as he has done all those years before.

Career as a lecturer and professor

What many people didn't know at the time: At this point, Achille wants to give up. "It came so suddenly! And I didn't know how I was going to organize my work alone, without my counterpart, without him to talk to," says the Designer. For a long time, he helped himself by "simply pretending he was still there". But he secretly thought about quitting, as Achille revealed many years later. It was at this point in Castiglioni's life that he began a career as a lecturer, passing on his visions and visionary design approaches to budding architects and industrial designers in clear and practical lectures. The auditorium is packed when Castiglioni - armed only with a broomstick - demonstrates how to move a block of marble weighing a tenth of a kilogram with ease. His lectures are popular and, as in the past with Pier Giacomo, he now conducts dialogues - albeit with a different intensity - with his students. "Design is a collaborative effort and it is important to include the opinions and suggestions of others," says Achille Castiglioni.

Essenza di Gastiglioni

When the grand master of industrial design died in Milan on December 6, 2002, the who's who of the architecture and design scene worldwide condoled: Michele De Lucchi, Philippe Starck, Sir Norman Foster, Ross Lovegrove, Ettore Sottsass - to name but a few. His visionary designs are still legendary today. Achille Castiglioni design is immortalized in the leading design museums - TAGWERC offers the original Achille Castiglioni design for the private and professional ambience and thus the manifestation of Achille Castiglioni's credo directly:. "We wanted to get to the essence by omitting."

Achille Castiglioni design classics at TAGWERC

TAGWERC offers you the Achille Castiglioni design classics collection. Online, at TAGWERC Design STORE, you can experience a curated selection of Achille Castiglioni design objects. For all Achille Castiglioni objects not listed here, we will be happy to make you an individual offer.