Achille Castiglioni (1918-2002): traces of history

Achille Castiglioni (Milan, 16 February 1918 - 2 December 2002) was one of the most successful and innovative architects and designers on the Italian scene. After graduating from the Milan Polytechnic, he consolidated his experience in the studio of his brothers Livio and Pier Giacomo, dedicating himself to decidedly varied projects: from town planning to thearchitecture until product design.

The life of Achille Castiglioni

Fourteen of his most important works are exhibited at the MoMa of New York, which in Manhattan created in his honour the largest retrospective ever dedicated to an Italian designer.
In 1965, Achille and Piergiacomo Castiglioni designed for Brionvega RR226, a radio-phonograph that is still considered one of the most beautiful pieces in the history of Italian design; it is a modular radio set characterised by its versatility of form, conceived in a completely revolutionary way for large-scale industrial production.

Achille Castiglioni's design is known for the strong imprint left on the search for functionality through reuse of objects that already exist in production. His brilliant intuition, in fact, was to transform an ordinary object used in everyday life into a design project: just think of his most famous works such as the lamp Arch produced by Flos (1962), the chair Saddle (1957) or the armchair Sanluca (1959). The key elements of his research were certainly experimentation, simplicity, refinement of form and pragmatism.

The Achille Castiglioni Foundation

In January 2006, the Maestro's heirs signed an agreement with the Milan Triennale so that the Achille Castiglioni Studio Museum is opened to the public. Given the success with the public (more than 40,000 visitors in 2014 alone), the Castiglioni family wanted to continue to share the place and the history contained within it with visitors.
Thus was born on 14 December 2011 the Achille Castiglioni Foundation.

For more information: foundationachillecastiglioni.it.