MADE IN ITALY
Traditional craftsmanship and a respect for materials ensure Massimo Castagna’s contemporary designs remain timeless
You’re likely to have come across Massimo Castagna’s work without realising it. A prolific designer for high-end Italian brands, Castagna’s ubiquity as a designer is a testament to his ability to create timeless pieces and spaces. Trained as an architect at the Polytechnic University of Milan, Castagna founded the studio AD Architettura in 1986. His range of expertise spans architectural design for interior and commercial projects to restoration and art direction and his vast scope, from conception to completion, allows him to create holistic designs that are aesthetically satisfying as well as functionally sound.
Rooted in core values, time-tested techniques and traditional artisanal wisdom, Castagna’s designs signal a move away from mass production. The Italian legacy of manual skill and manufacturing excellence is at the core of his designs, which are often driven by the materials themselves. “I don’t like fake materials. My research aims for ways to enhance and express the intrinsic features of natural materials,” he says. As a result, textures like leather, glass, metal and fabric feature heavily.
Wood is also used to spectacular effect in the Oxymoron table for Henge. With this design, Castagna celebrates the material in such a way as to make it the central focus. In doing so, he revives a lost artisanal technique — there were very few craftsmen skilled enough to achieve the cutting technique needed to create the marbling effect Castagna wanted. “Reinterpreting materials and techniques with a strict link to existing artisans is a key part of understanding the transformation of our habits and ways of living,” he says.
For the HT 50 kitchen concept, Castagna reinterprets the “portal” kitchen Rossana Cucine made successful in the ’80s (where the workspace is conceived as a niche between the built-in base units and cabinets). His minimal execution,
I don’t like fake materials. My research aims for ways to enhance and express the intrinsic features of natural materials MASSIMO CASTAGNA DESIGNER
through details like push-pull mechanisms, and attention to materials and form, produced a refined yet tactile design, which elevates the culinary experience.
Also for Rossana, the K-In / K-Out concept marked a new chapter in kitchen design. Playing with concepts like versatility and balance, the primitive block-like island uses different fabrication — wood or stone — to combat the elements. The magic is in Castagna’s minimal design that belies much greater complexity, such as sliding surfaces that conceal and reveal, changing the permutation and shape of the design itself.
Castagna has shown that tradition and innovation are not enemies but allies that can work side by side in the name of creativity. For him, furnishings are not just simple objects, they are travel companions following the stages of our lives and reflecting our personal idea of beauty.
“People’s lifestyles are at the centre of our interests,” he says. “Our task is to constantly consider what we want with us in our homes and extract from our daily experiences a response to the new desires of life. We need the right balance of mind, heart and functionality.”