Magistretti Carimate Chair, 1959

Vico Magistretti, Carimate chair, 1959

The Carimate chair was designed by Vico Magistretti as part of a restaurant project, for a golf club in Carimate, Lombardy in 1959.

The chair was initially produced by Cassina and symbolised the fusion between Italian heritage and craftsmanship and the new wave of postwar design. The Carimate chair proved to be the acceptable face of modernism. It married a traditional design typography and the handwoven rush seat with a simple, yet new outline. It was available in natural beech, or with a red or black stain. The detailing and personality soon established the design as a classic.

The armchair was developed into a side chair and to a two-person bench.

Vico Magistretti formed part of a golden postwar design renaissance in Italy. Alongside the Castiglioni brothers, Carlo Scarpa, Marco Zanuso and Franco Albini he is recognised as one of the founding fathers of Italian Design. As an architect he built notable building in and around Milan. As a designer his output is recognised through many classic furniture and lighting designs that remain in demand and produced by leading manufacturers such as DePadova, Cassina, Oluce and Artemide.

In the 1980s his relationship with Great Britain was cemented through his Gold Medal from the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers and also his presence as a tutor at the Royal College of Art. Two of his students, Jasper Morrison and Konstantin Grcic acknowledged Magistretti as a key influence.

The Fondazione Vico Magisretti was established in 2010.

Beech/rush

58x46x44/74cmh