Fantastic Plastics
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The Kartell museum is located in Noviglio, just outside Milan.Photo by: Sam Grawe -
1950's K 101 Ski Rack by Carlo Barassi and Roberto Menghi, a rubberized set of straps that easily clipped onto a car roof (as opposed to the bulky and unwieldy roof racks then on the market), was the first Kartell product. It proved to be a great success.Photo by: Sam Grawe -
Having produced an array of lab ware, in 1955 Kartell was among the first companies to introduce plastic products to the home environment. The KS 1067 dustpan by Gino Colombini was among their first.Photo by: Sam Grawe -
The delicate looking KS 1475 carpet beater was made with polyethylene surrounding a metal core.Photo by: Sam Grawe -
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A young Milanese architect named Joe Colombo realized the 4801 armchair in 1964. An anomaly in the catalog, the chair is made entirely from wood without the use of screws or glue.Photo by: Sam Grawe -
Initially developed for Fiat dealerships, Musée D'Orsay architect Gae Aulenti's 1974 collection, including the 4894 table and 4794 armchair seen here, were produced in a moulded rigid polyurethane that had a new texture and matte finish.Photo by: Sam Grawe -
By the early 1960s the company's design aesthetic had become more refined, and in a way prefigured the space age look that was to become popular by the decade's end. Euginio Gentili Tedeschi's 4062 suspension lamp from 1962 is almost a yard in diameter, and would have been impossible to produce (for cost and technical reasons) in any other material than plastic.Photo by: Sam Grawe -
Colombo's 4029 table lamp features indentations to house desktop items.Photo by: Sam Grawe -
Functional, friendly and colorful—to the point of appearing almost cartoonish—a stack of nesting 4906/07 tables by Giotto Stoppino and a bright blue 4850 stacking chair by Giorgina Castiglioni, Giorgio Gaviraghi, and Aldo Lanza, give the spirit of the company's direction by the late 1960s.Photo by: Sam Grawe -
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The 4545 "centipede" bed by Antonio Locatelli and Pietro Salmoiraghi from 1972 was one of company's least successful offerings and only remained in production for a year.Photo by: Sam Grawe -
The intensely postmodern 4814 lounge chair with two wheels was among Anna Castelli Ferrieri's last designs for the brand.Photo by: Sam Grawe -
The museum's bathroom is kitted out with Castelli Ferrieri's 5021/64 Outline System, the 1978 modular wall organizer based on shaker pegs.Don't miss a word of Dwell! Download our FREE app from iTunes, friend us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!Photo by: Sam Grawe
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Componibili
In production for nearly thirty years, the Componibili is an iconic piece of plastic modular furniture that is counted among MoMA's permanent collection of furnishings. Available in various sizes, it is designed to be stacked or grouped together via a tongue-and-groove system, enabling a variety of configurations.
2012 Color of the Year: Tangerine
Pantone, no longer relegated to color wheels for art directors, makes a splash each December with the company's pick for imminent Color of the Year.
Put Together
West of Piombino Dese, in Bovezzo, the well-tended Glo-Balls meet the other parts of the lamp: laminated tubular steel stands, bases, and electronic components sourced in Milan.
Back to the Future
The legacy of mid-century designer Joe Colombo is underscored with a reissue of his plywood 4801 chair, now appearing for the first time in plastic from Italian furniture company Kartell.
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