Vico Magistretti - Cassina - Sofa - Maralunga

The Maralunga ("all-time favourite") is a timeless, very comfortable sofa designed by Vico Magistretti for Cassina winner of the Compasso D'Oro award in 1979. This model has developed into a famous design classic which is it has even been added to the New York Museum of Modern Art. the Maralunga sofa entered the catalog in 1974 and represents one of the most successful projects of both the company and the designer. «I don't think about designing furniture or things that will have a short life», Magistretti often said of his projects, «otherwise I would give up from the start. I have never made furniture out of cardboard or other material that is destined to deteriorate. In my opinion, a good design must never end, but it tends to repeat itself over a very long period of time and will remain valid even in a hundred years ". The lot offered at auction consists of a two-seater sofa upholstered in velvet in a delicate sage green colour. The sofa is in good used condition as it was used very little and with great care by the previous owners. Padding and structure still solid, resistant and comfortable. Folding backrests with ease. The velvet upholstery has been thoroughly cleaned and is now in good used condition with no apparent stains with minor signs of age. Some differences in tone are caused by the iridescent effect of the velvet. Sofa dimensions in cm: height 70 length 170 depth 82 "Design Radicale" includes transport insurance for Italy / Europe in the indicated shipping costs. For shipping "rest of the world" the cost is indicative. We will formulate a quote after the auction has ended according to the destination. «I was designing something for Cesare Cassina. It arises from an armrest with an attached cushion. Looking at it and making it swing, I thought of making a mobile headboard cushion for a sofa and I exchanged a glance with Cesare Cassina. The Maralunga sofa was born, one of the best-selling pieces of Italian design. » Via Magistretti Comfort, reassuring and familiar aesthetics, and transformability are the keywords behind the Maralunga sofa, a design that goes "beyond any exercise in fashion and style". Magistretti deals here with the theme of the transformability of objects, as happens in Veranda (Cassina, 1983) and in the subsequent folding objects for Campeggi, without renouncing the concern for comfort. The Maralunga sofa and armchair with steel structure and support bases in black plastic material are padded with polyurethane foam, dacron fiberfill and polyester wadding and seat and cushions in polyurethane foam and polyester wadding. Armchair and sofa, upholstered in fabric or leather, are characterized by the innovative possibility of choosing the position, high or low, of the single headrest, initially modular in its configuration thanks to the hidden insertion of a bicycle chain, with a system patented in 1985 ( patents model series 161717, 02/03/1985) . The suggested use of the object is not formal, as Magistretti recalls, but satisfies the variable functional needs dictated by new domestic rituals such as television, confirming the centrality of the idea inherent in every project by the designer. Vico Magistretti was born in 1920 in Milan, he graduated in architecture in 1945 at the Milan Polytechnic. Student of Ernesto Nathan Rogers he also studied at the "Champ Universitari Italien de Lausanne". Vico Magistretti's work and research have crossed the history of Italian design, of which he is one of the undisputed fathers. Besides being an architect and designer, Vico Magistretti is known for being one of the most successful urban planners in Italy. In 1956 he was one of the founders of ADI, the Association for Industrial Design. Become a member of the CIAM in 1958. Academician of San Luca (1967) . Since 1983 he has been Honorary Fellow at the Royal College of Art in London, where in 1990 he was elected Honorary Professor and in 1996 Senior Fellow. In 1986 he was Honorary Fellow Honoris Cause of the R. I. A. S. of Aberdeen. In 1992 he was Honorary Royal Designer for Industry of the R. S. A. from London. Among the prizes awarded to Vico Magistretti: Gold Medal at the IX Triennale 1951; Compasso d'Oro 1967; Two Compassi d'Oro 1979; Two Compassi d'Oro for Lifetime Achievement 1995; Two Gold and two Silver Medals at the Wiener Mobelsalons International 1970; Chair of Gold at Mobelsalons in Cologne 1982; Gold Medal S. I. A. D. from London; Gold Medal "Apostle of design" Milan 1997. He has participated in exhibitions and lectures in Europe, America and Japan. His design works are present in the permanent collections of the MOMA in New York and 13 other American and European museums. Among his architectural works: in Milan, the church at QT8, the Tower of the park in via Rovere, the Tower of piazzale Aquileja, the house in via S. Marco, the headquarters of the Department of Biology of the State University; villas in Azzate, Arenzano, Carimate; the Municipality of Cusano Milanino; a house in Tokyo; the Cavagnari Center of the Cassa di Risparmio di Parma; Tecnocentro Cassa di Risparmio di Bologna; Milan underground depot station. “In design, what counts is the concept expressed in a sketch”. From a sketch to the shape: Vico Magistretti has never made technical drawings, but sketches that express the idea. Convinced that certain pieces are conceptually simple to be communicated by telephone. Sketches, sometimes drawn randomly on the back of an envelope, on the page of a newspaper, on the subway ticket. His way of working therefore leads him to talk with technicians and producers, in a confrontation and in an exchange of ideas on the realization of the product: “Design means talking together”. In the field of Industrial Design he has collaborated and collaborates with many companies including: Artemide, Cassina, De Padova, Flou, Fontana. Arte, Fredericia, Fritz Hansen, Campeggi, Kartell, O-Luce, Schiffini, Olivari for which he designs some of the products most significant of the mass production of Italian industrial design: chairs, lamps, tables, beds, kitchens, wardrobes, bookcases. Most of them are still in production. Among the best known design projects by Vico Magistretti: Carimate, chair - 1960 - Terence Coran, Cassina Arcadia tables 80 and 100, 1966 Demetrio tables 45 and 70, 1966 Elena, table, 1966 - Artemide Stadium, table -1966 Eclisse, lamp, 1967 - Artemide Selene, chair (1967 patent) - Artemide, 1969 Gaudì, chair - 1970 - Artemide Vicario, armchair - 1971 Atollo, table lamp - 1977 - O light Vidun, table - 1987 - De Padova Silver, seat - 1989 - De Padova Maui, stackable chair - 1998 - Kartell Dalù, table lamp, 2005 - Artemide