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Paola Antonelli
Associate Curator
Department of Architecture and Design
Castiglioni was born in 1918 and studied architecture at the Polytechnic in Milan.
Just after World War II he joined the studio run by his two older brothers Livio and
Pier Giacomo, also architects. When Livio left the practice in 1952, Achille and
Pier Giacomo collaborated until the latter's premature death in 1968.
During the course of his long career, which continues today, Castiglioni has
designed dozens of objects, as well as temporary architecture for numerous art
exhibitions, trade fairs, and showrooms. This exhibition presents a selection of
these objects, as well as three reconstructed rooms from 1957, 1965, and 1984
that further demonstrate his design philosophy, based on observation and free
association.
Castiglioni views the world as a wonderful catalogue of objects that can provide a
designer with ideas and guidance, and his own work is often inspired by everyday
things. The designer's personal collection of found objects, gathered over a
lifetime of curiosity, consists of objects with lives of their own. Independent of any
designer's name, these objects become the means through which he pursues and
recognizes good design--a lens through which his work can best be understood.
With his functional and purist yet playful objects, Castiglioni has shown that form
and function, while certainly the main ingredients for successful design, cannot be
a designer's only concerns. He has thus contributed invaluably to updating
modernist design to contemporary modern.
Paola Antonelli
Associate Curator
Department of Architecture and Design
The exhibition is organized by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in collaboration
with Cosmit, Organizing Committee of the Italian Furniture Exhibition, Milan, Italy. This
exhibition is made possible by a generous grant from Maureen and Marshall S. Cogan.
Additional support is provided by Agnes Bowne, Alessi, Cosmit, Abitare, Campeggi S.r.l.,
Flos, and M2L, Inc. The brochure and the education programs accompanying the
exhibition are made possible by a generous grant from the furniture division of the Italian
Trade Commission.
Italian architect and designer Achille Castiglioni (b.1918), to whom The Museum
of Modern Art dedicates this first individual retrospective in the United States, is
an internationally acknowledged master of design. During his fifty-two-year
career, he has designed and collaborated on almost 150 objects, including lamps,
stools, bookshelves, electrical switches, cameras,
telephones, vacuum cleaners, and car seats.
Several of his works, such as the Arco and the Brera
lamps, are featured in the design collections of many
museums. They are also familiar to many people
who use them in their homes, even if Castiglioni's
name may not be. This exhibition presents a wide
selection of objects, as well as special
reconstructions of three rooms chosen from his
dozens of installations for art exhibitions, trade fairs,
and showrooms. His work, which has had a powerful
impact on the history of the applied arts and has Achille Castiglioni in his
taught generations about good design, provides an studio, under an "Arco"
overview of the characteristics that make design one lamp, sitting on "Sanluca"
of the highest expressions of twentieth-century chair, next to a "Rochcetto"
creativity. table.
office and set out on his own to design lighting and sound installations. Until Pier
Giacomo's premature death in 1968, he and Achille worked together on a
multitude of designs, both concentrating on the same task, rather than dividing up
the work. Many of their objects, like the Arco and Parentesi lamps, are still in
production. The clarity and wit that characterizes their combined efforts is also
evident in Achille's solo production from 1968 to the present day.
Castiglioni loves paradoxes and the new perception and wisdom they can
engender. One example is the Sella (saddle), the pivoting stool designed with
Pier Giacomo in 1957, which garnered the Castiglionis an incongruous "Dadaist"
label because of its use of an already existing, everyday object in an unexpected
context. The Sella is made of a leather bicycle seat, a tubular metal stem, and a
rounded cast-iron base. Its inspiration induces smiles: "When I use a pay phone,"
says the designer, "I like to move around, but I also would like to sit, but not
completely." The Principal Design Component was in this case a new behavior, a
consequence of a more probing understanding of an object's combined form and
function, which is often the focus of Castiglioni's
work. "I try to suggest different behaviors," he has
declared, expressing his idea that the designer
must be the interpreter of both real and virtual
needs, those that people discover only after
having them satisfied first. Virtual needs, the
means to a consumers' market, are here
demonstrated in their pre-cynical form. With the
effortless composition of the three Sella
elements, the designers both invented and
fulfilled a need that arose from perceptive
imagination; at the same time, they designed a
new but thoroughly convincing behavior-a hybrid between sitting and pacing
nervously.
Drawing on the classifications made by Paolo Ferrari in his 1984 book Achille
Castiglioni, Castiglioni himself divides his work into various groupings. The Sella
belongs to the category of Ready-made Objects, as do the Mezzadro (1957)a
stool composed of a mass-produced tractor seat, a bent steel bar, a wood bar,
and a wing screw-and the above-mentioned Toio lamp-made from a car reflector,
a transformer that also works as heavy base, a formed metal handle, a hexagonal
stem, three fishing rod rings, and a single screw. His Ready-made Objects evolve
like living things: the components of the Mezzadro stool have been updated as
the manufacture of tractor seats has changed without damaging the purity of the
object. Castiglioni refers to another grouping as Redesigned Objects, meaning
traditional objects that he has perfected or updated according to current needs
and technological developments. These include his personal takes on small
outdoor café tables (Cumano, 1979), ashtrays (Spirale, 1971), glass globe ceiling
lamps (Brera, 1992), and bedside tables (Comodo, 1989). The Minimalist group
contains such subtle icons as the Luminator floor lamp of 1955, which is simply a
bulb in a tube on a tripod-the tube just big enough to accommodate the socket
and to contain the three thin legs during transportation-as well as the Fucsia
hanging lamp of 1996, simply an upside-down glass cone with its edges sanded
to protect the eyes from the bulb's glare. The Snoopy table lamp of 1967, so
named after its prominent beagle-like nose, and the anthropomorphic RR126
stereo system of 1966, endowed with eyes, movable ears, and a mouth, are two
of his so-called Expressionistic Objects, while the sleek curvilinear shells of
appliances like the 1956 Spalter vacuum cleaner and the 1968 VLM light switch
are among his Integral Projects.
Castiglioni's design approach can best be understood within the context of the
cultural climate of which he was a product, and which he in turn helped to shape.
Like other Italian designers and architects such as Marco Zanuso and Ettore
Sottsass, he benefited from a fortuitous combination of trends that has made
Italian design a worldwide force. In part because Italian culture has always been
founded on a tradition of the fine arts and of skillful craftsmanship, and in part
because the disruption of World War II had created a need for newly designed
and produced objects to restore the country's quality of life, Italy was poised for a
design renaissance in the 1950s. The seemingly disparate sectors of culture,
technology, and the economy enjoyed harmonious cooperation toward the
common goal of rejuvenation. In the absence of architectural projects, architects
focused on designing smaller objects. Talented architects still looking for
commissions met ambitious manufacturers eager to bring their pre-existing
companies up to date or to boost their new enterprises. The relatively small size
of their family-based companies and their attention to detail and craftsmanship
caused them to take risks and embrace innovative design. These manufacturers
put at the designers' disposal all their technical skill and resources, along with
their knowledge of the technological breakthroughs occurring in the postwar
period. The long-lasting relationships between designers and manufacturers that
were established during that time-like those between Zanuso and Brionvega
(television manufacturer), between Sottsass and Olivetti (typewriter and computer
manufacturer), or between the Castiglionis and Flos, the lighting fixtures company
that still produces their lamps-were based on shared creative vision and
understanding. In addition, both these groups benefited from the presence of
ingenious engineers and technicians, as well as from world-renowned architecture
and design publications like Domus, which facilitated the international exchange
of ideas. Concurrently, Italy's economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s allowed the
production and consumption of this new design to become a reality.
Castiglioni has often said, "What you need is a constant and consistent way of
designing, not a style." His own way has been to focus on understanding objects,
basing his designs on a narrative approach in which observed or imagined need
results in a satisfying design solution. Castiglioni has shown that while form and
function are the main ingredients for successful design, they cannot be the
designer's only concerns. His flexibility has allowed him to design a vast array of
stylistically varied objects. Today, at age seventy-nine, he is still as energetic and
driven as ever and is still working on many assignments at a time, applying his
philosophy and methodology with wit, curiosity, and a combination of exuberance
and understatement. Over the course of his long career, Castiglioni has, with his
purist yet playful and individual objects, helped to update modernist design to
contemporary modern.
Paola Antonelli
Associate Curator
Department of Architecture and Design
5C handles, 1983
Stainless steel or brass, 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 x 2 5/16"
Manufactured and lent by Fusital
Trac table,1976
Achille Castiglioni and Paolo Ferrari
Wood, 29 x 31 x 31"
Manufactured and lent by BBB emmebonacina
Trio shelves,1991
Wood, 48 x 16 x 16"
Manufactured and lent by Longoni
ENVIRONMENTS
Tokyo
1918
Born February 16 in Milan, Italy.
1944
Graduated March 15 in Architecture from the Polytechnic of Milan.
1944-present
Freelance architect and designer with a studio in Piazza Castello.
1947
Begins collaboration with his brothers Pier Giacomo and Livio.
1947-present
Present at the Triennale in Milan as a member of the organizing committee, or as the exhibition's
designer, or by displaying his works.
1952
End of part-time collaboration with his brother Livio.
1955
Receives the Italian "Compasso d'Oro" award.
1956
Among the founders of the A.D.I. (Association of Industrial Design).
1968
End of continuous collaboration with his brother Pier Giacomo because of the latter's death.
1969
Awarded full professorship in "Artistic Industrial Design" by the Ministry of Public Education.
1970-1977
Professor of "Artistic Industrial Design" in the Department of Architecture of the Polytechnic of
Turin.
1977
Wins the competition at the Ministry of Public Education for "Architectural Design."
1977-1980
Visiting lecturer at the Department of Architecture at the Polytechnic of Turin, and holds the
1979
Receives the Italian "Compasso d'Oro" award.
1981-1986
Full professor at the Department of Architecture at the Polytechnic of Milan. Teaches "Interior
Architecture and Design."
1984
Receives the Italian "Compasso d'Oro" award.
1984-1985
Organizes and designs the exhibition Achille Castiglioni Designer at the Oesterreichisches
Museum für Angewandte Kunst (March), the Akademie der Kunst, Berlin (June), the Triennale di
Milano (November) and the Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Zurich (February 1985).
1985-present
A member of the Advisory Committee of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena,
California and Montreux, Switzerland.
1986
Full professorship at the Department of Architecture of the Polytechnic of Milan, teaching
"Industrial Design," and an honorary member of the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry of
the Royal Society of Art in London.
Receives the golden medal for "Civic Good Services" from the Municipal Authority of Milan.
Receives the "Five Stars" award of the ADI together with Techotel.
1987
Receives the Degree Honoris Causa from the Royal College of Art in London.
Receives the First Class Diploma in School, Culture and Art from the Ministry of Public
Education, Italy.
1989
Receives the Italian "Compasso d'Oro" award.
1993
Receives the annual award from The Chartered Society of Designers in London and the
"Barcelona Design" award of the Department of Culture of Catalunya.
1995
Receives the "Art sur table" award from the Ministère de l'Industrie, Paris.
1996
About ten of Castiglioni's works are in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York
and others are in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Kunstgewerbe-
Museum, Zurich; the Staatliches Museum für Kunst, Munich; the Uneleckoprumyslove Museum,
Prague; and the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
Castiglioni has taken part in several round tables on Industrial Design in Italy and abroad and has
been a member of both national and international juries.
©1997 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo of Achille Castiglioni by Cesare Colombo
Alessi.
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installations,
furniture, and
objects. Among
these were the 1938
Caccia cutlery set,
which is still in
production today and
remains ubiquitous
in Italian homes.
Achille, Pier Giacomo, and Livio
Their spectacular
Castiglioni working in their studio five-valve radio
(1952) receiver from 1939,
manufactured by
Phonola, was one of the first radios to move away from
the traditional heavy cupboard setup, and served as a
milestone of organic design in plastic, comparable to
Isamu Noguchi's Radio Nurse of 1937. Achille joined his
brothers as a licensed architect after the close of World
War II. In 1952, Livio left the office and set out on his own
to design lighting and sound installations. Until Pier
Giacomo's premature death in 1968, he and Achille
worked together on a multitude of designs, both
concentrating on the same task, rather than dividing up
the work. Many of their objects, like the Arco and
Parentesi lamps, are still in production. The clarity and wit
that characterizes their combined efforts is also evident in
Achille's solo production from 1968 to the present day.
Paola Antonelli
Associate Curator
Department of Architecture and Design
Teli means "sheets of cloth." The idea for the lamp came to
the brothers while observing the synthetic fabric used for
bagging rice. Raflon is a heavy and tough fiber. They used
two rectangular sheets, a square anodized aluminum board,
and two brass sticks to give tension to the cloth. All the
elements are easily assembled and disassembled for
packing and shipping. The light source, a standard
incandescent bulb, is essentially dressed up in veils.
5C handles, 1983
Stainless steel or brass, 5 1/4 x 5
1/4 x 2 5/16"
Manufactured and lent by Fusital
Trac table,1976
Achille Castiglioni and Paolo Ferrari
Wood, 29 x 31 x 31"
Manufactured and lent by BBB emmebonacina
Trio shelves,1991
Wood, 48 x 16 x 16"
Manufactured and lent by Longoni
ENVIRONMENTS
Tokyo
1918
Born February 16 in Milan, Italy.
1944
Graduated March 15 in Architecture from the Polytechnic of Milan.
1944-present
Freelance architect and designer with a studio in Piazza Castello.
1947
Begins collaboration with his brothers Pier Giacomo and Livio.
1947-present
Present at the Triennale in Milan as a member of the organizing
committee, or as the exhibition's designer, or by displaying his works.
1952
End of part-time collaboration with his brother Livio.
1955
Receives the Italian "Compasso d'Oro" award.
1956
Among the founders of the A.D.I. (Association of Industrial Design).
1968
End of continuous collaboration with his brother Pier Giacomo
because of the latter's death.
1969
Awarded full professorship in "Artistic Industrial Design" by the
Ministry of Public Education.
1970-1977
Professor of "Artistic Industrial Design" in the Department of
Architecture of the Polytechnic of Turin.
1977
Wins the competition at the Ministry of Public Education for
"Architectural Design."
1977-1980
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MoMA.org | Interactives | Exhibitions | 1997 | Achille Castiglioni: Design! | Biography
Visiting lecturer at the Department of Architecture at the Polytechnic
of Turin, and holds the professorship of "Interior Architecture and
Design".
1979
Receives the Italian "Compasso d'Oro" award.
1981-1986
Full professor at the Department of Architecture at the Polytechnic of
Milan. Teaches "Interior Architecture and Design."
1984
Receives the Italian "Compasso d'Oro" award.
1984-1985
Organizes and designs the exhibition Achille Castiglioni Designer at
the Oesterreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst (March), the
Akademie der Kunst, Berlin (June), the Triennale di Milano
(November) and the Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Zurich (February 1985).
1985-present
A member of the Advisory Committee of the Art Center College of
Design in Pasadena, California and Montreux, Switzerland.
1986
Full professorship at the Department of Architecture of the
Polytechnic of Milan, teaching "Industrial Design," and an honorary
member of the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry of the Royal
Society of Art in London.
Receives the golden medal for "Civic Good Services" from the
Municipal Authority of Milan.
Receives the "Five Stars" award of the ADI together with Techotel.
1987
Receives the Degree Honoris Causa from the Royal College of Art in
London.
Receives the First Class Diploma in School, Culture and Art from the
Ministry of Public Education, Italy.
1989
Receives the Italian "Compasso d'Oro" award.
1993
Receives the annual award from The Chartered Society of Designers
in London and the "Barcelona Design" award of the Department of
Culture of Catalunya.
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1997/castiglioni/biography_f.html (2 of 3) [4/6/2012 12:21:44 PM]
MoMA.org | Interactives | Exhibitions | 1997 | Achille Castiglioni: Design! | Biography
1995
Receives the "Art sur table" award from the Ministère de l'Industrie,
Paris.
1996
Receives the Frankfurt "Design Plus Award".
©1997 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo of Achille Castiglioni by
Cesare Colombo
Alessi.
Alessi, The Design Factory.
London: Academy Editions,
1994.
Aloi, Roberto.
Arte Funeraria d'Oggi.
Milan: Hoepli, 1959.
Aloi, Roberto.
Esposizioni: Architettura
Allestimenti. Milan: Hoepli,
1960.
Ambasz, Emilio.
Italy: The New Domestic Landscape. New York: The
Museum of Modern Art, 1972.
Bangert, Albrecht.
Italienisches Möbeldesign. Munich: Bangert, 1987.
Barbacetto, Gianni.
Interfaccia Design. Milan: Arcadia, 1987.
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1997/castiglioni/bibliography_f.html (1 of 12) [4/6/2012 12:21:47 PM]
MoMA.org | Interactives | Exhibitions | 1997 | Achille Castiglioni: Design! | Bibliography
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Oggetto e Prodotto. Milan: Franco Angeli, 1987.
Bolaffi.
Catalogo Bolaffi dell'Architettura. Turin: Bolaffi, 1966.
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Un museo del Design Italiano: Il Design Italiano 1964-
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Busch, Aki.
Product Design. New York: PBC International, 1984.
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Arte Industriale. Milan: Arcadia, 1988.
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Mobili come Architetture. Milan: Arcadia, 1984.
Centrokappa.
Il Design Italiano Degli Anni '50. Catalog. Milan:
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Conran Foundation.
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MoMA.org | Interactives | Exhibitions | 1997 | Achille Castiglioni: Design! | Bibliography
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Achille Castiglioni. Milan: Electa, 1984.
Fossati, Paolo.
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Fossati, Paolo.
Il Design. Rome: Tattilo Editrice, 1973
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MoMA.org | Interactives | Exhibitions | 1997 | Achille Castiglioni: Design! | Bibliography
Irace, Fulvio.
Driade Book. Milan: Skira, 1995.
Mang, Karl.
History of Modern Furniture. London: Academy Editions,
1979.
Mastropietro, Mario.
An Industry for Design: The Research, Design and
Corporate Image of B & B Italia. Milan: Edizioni Lybra
Immagine, 1982, 1986.
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Muller-Brockmann, Josef.
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Niggli, 1971.
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Ritter, Enrichetta.
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Rubino, Luciano.
Quando le Sedie Avevano le Gambe. Verona: Bertani,
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Nuovi Negozi a Milano. Milano: L'Archivolto, 1994.
Sartogo, Piero.
Italian Re-Evolution. Catalog. La Jolla, California: La
Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, 1982.
Scarzella, Patrizia.
Il bel Metallo. Milan: Arcadia, 1985.
Sparke, Penny.
Design in Italy 1870 to the Present. London and New
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Sudjic, Deyan.
The Lighting Book. London: Mitchell Beazley, 1985.
Triennale di Milano.
Il Progetto Domestico. Catalog. Milan: Electa, 1986.
Vercelloni, Virgilio.
The Adventure of Design: Gavina. New York: Rizzoli,
1989.
Alhadeff, Gini.
"The Designer & the Readymade" (Achille Castiglioni). I.
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Antonelli, Paola.
"Achille Castiglioni." I.D.January/February 1996, p.53.
Antonelli, Paola.
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Antonelli, Paola.
"Castiglioni and his Cubic Cows." I.D. September/
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Antonelli, Paola.
"Milan's Master of the Modern Form: Achille Castiglioni."
Graphis 285. May/June 1993, pp. 36-47.
Antonelli, Paola.
"True Stories Behind Designs (episodes of Achille
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Bosoni, Giampiero.
"Temporary Architecture: Exhibitions and their
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Burkhardt, François.
"An Exhibition in Cologne (Giulio Cappellini Collection:
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1996, pp. 80-83.
Capella, Juli.
"Intervista ad Achille Castiglioni." Domus 779. February
1996, pp. 43-50.
Casciani, Stefano.
"1994: In anteprima da Milano." Abitare 328. April 1994,
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Casciani, Stefano.
"Due allestimenti. " Domus 723. January 1991, pp. 60-
67.
Casciani, Stefano.
"Tre pezzi difficili." Abitare 351. May 1996, pp. 188-190.
Castiglioni, Achille.
"'Latin Lover,' An Exhibition in Florence." Domus 782.
Castiglioni, Achille.
"Achille Castiglioni." L'Architettura. Vol. 34. November
1988, pp. 826-831.
Castiglioni, Achille.
"Allestimento della mostra Fernand Léger a Wolfsburg."
Casabella. March 1996, pp. 40-45.
Ceccarelli, Lorena.
"San Luca ritorna." Modo 131. April 1991, pp. 68-70.
De Giorgi, Manolo.
"Archetypal Upholstered Furniture." Domus 686.
September 1987, pp. 78-97.
De Vecchi, Lerner.
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1986, p. 71.
Eitzen, Ann.
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1986, p.64.
Evamy, Michael.
"Mobile on the Move." Design 508. April 1991, pp. 15-17.
Fitoussi, Brigitte.
"Achille Castiglioni: du readymade au design."
L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui 241. October 1985, pp. 97-
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Glancey, Jonathan.
"Achille Castiglioni." The Architectural Review. Vol. 176.
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Krohn, Lisa.
"The World According to Achille Castiglioni." Blueprint.
(Milan's Fair special supplement). September 1989, pp.
9-8.
Letto, Poltrona.
"Polet." Abitare 306. April 1992, pp. 230-232.
Lupi, Italo.
"Duomo nello specchio: negozio Omega." Casabella
339-340. August/September 1969, pp. 72-85.
Mantica, Clara.
"Video Progetto." Domus 666. November 1985, pp. 56-
57.
Manzini, Ezio.
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Myerson, Jeremy.
"The Outsider." Design Week. June 11, 1993, p.12-13.
Niesewand, Nonie.
"RCA Visiting Professor, Vico Magistretti, On the Best of
British." House & Garden 440. January 1988, p. 89.
Pasca, Vanni.
"The Bed Comes of Age." Casa Vogue 223. October
1990, pp. 238-241.
Pearce, Beverly.
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MoMA.org | Interactives | Exhibitions | 1997 | Achille Castiglioni: Design! | Bibliography
Restany, Pierre.
"Geometrie Dionisiache." Domus 696. July/August 1988,
pp. 6-7.
Rogers, Nelda.
"The Light of Reason." Azure: Design, Architecture, Art.
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Romanelli, Marco.
"A proposito del Salone del Mobile di Milano." Domus
733. December 1991, pp. 82-92.
Romanelli, Marco.
"Achille Castiglioni - RAI - Fiera di Milano 1956...1969-
86." Domus 674. July/August 1986, pp. 67-75.
Romanelli, Marco.
"Achille Castiglioni 1992." Domus 745. January 1993,
pp. 68-75.
Romanelli, Marco.
"Achille Castiglioni, Gianfranco Cavagliá, Italo Lupi:
Padiglione espositivo." Domus 753. October 1993, pp.
14-16.
Romanelli, Marco.
"Miscellanea on the concept of furniture design: part IV,
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1994, pp. 52-61.
Romanelli, Marco.
"Quattro oggetti e alcune riflessioni." Domus 725. March
1991, pp. 64-73.
Vitta, Maurizio.
"An Eloquent Sign" L'Arca 91. March 1995, pp. 90-92.
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"Risk Taker." Interiors. November 1991, pp. 70-71.
Vitagliani, S.
"Tesi Laurea nella Facoltá di Archittetura di Torino:
Corso progettazione artistica per l'industria." Casabella
46. January/February 1982, pp. 92-93.
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