Design hero
The centenary of the Italian icon, whose commitment to timeless design was unwavering, heralds a series of new launches
Italian icon Vico Magistretti’s most celebrated pieces are being reissued to mark his centenary
Vico Magistretti (1920-2006) was born into Milanese design royalty: architecture was the family profession and, between them, his father and great-grandfather were responsible for a number of the city’s landmarks. Magistretti followed in their footsteps, graduating in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano in 1945, before joining his father’s firm. It was a thrilling time for young designers and Magistretti threw himself enthusiastically into Italy’s post-war regeneration programme. In the late 1940s, he took part in the experimental QT8 project in northwestern Milan, where a group of architects were given carte blanche to create the ideal modern residential district. Today, QT8 remains one of the city’s greenest areas.
An avowed modernist, Magistretti stripped his buildings of all superfluous ornament, modestly reasoning that ‘anybody living in a house I designed has their own culture, background and taste’. During the 1960s, he focused on residential projects, but also made his initial forays into furniture and lighting design. His first creation was the ‘Carimate’ chair (1960), now produced by Fritz Hansen (a new centenary edition in red or black lacquer has recently been launched). Like all his pieces, it has a timeless simplicity, but he could be playful, too: his ‘Eclisse’ table lamp for Artemide, with its dainty rounded form and rotating inner shell that ‘eclipses’ the light source, interprets the era’s space-age aesthetic.
Magistretti struck up relationships with a number of important Italian manufacturers, among them Cassina, for whom he designed the much-imitated ‘Maralunga’ sofa (1973). It dispenses with scatter cushions in favour of articulated back and side rests, which can be folded up or down thanks to a patented mechanism, based on a bicycle chain, embedded within the upholstery. A new version in striped Kvadrat fabric has just been unveiled for the centenary.
He also took up a post as art director at lighting brand Oluce, which still makes his most famous design of all: ‘Atollo’ (1977), the modern archetype of a table lamp. Formed from three simple geometric shapes – a metal cylinder, cone and hemisphere – it has a pristine elegance, the shade appearing to float over the base when the lamp is switched on.
Continuing to design up until the year of his death, Magistretti made his mark on a new generation of talent as a visiting professor at London’s RCA, where his students included Jasper Morrison and Konstantin Grcic. ‘To be truly contemporary,’ he once said, ‘one must always have a hand in the past and a hand in the future.’ As if to prove his argument, the Fondazione Vico Magistretti, which houses his archive and preserves his Milanstudioasamuseum,hascreatedanonlineportalshowcasing hundreds of photos, sketches and press articles, providing an illuminating insight into his world. vicomagistretti.it
‘TO BE TRULY CONTEMPORARY, ONE MUST HAVE A HAND IN THE PAST AND THE FUTURE’