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Design
Maestri or “masters” are those charis-
matic figures capable of teaching and
handing down an art through their di-
rect actions and also through the inher-
itance of their actual works. In design
the maestri communicate through the
classics, timeless designs far from any
idea of fashions and trends yet so pow-
erful as to produce a style naturally.
Tacchini has set aside some rooms in
its living environment for the classics
and the masters who have designed
them, in a process of revivals which are
a challenge and a lesson on contempo-
rary style.
Classics
Starting from the avant-garde artistic groups of the
last century, Italian design is an endless source of
inspiration for movements, expressions and ways of
being. They find the Italian line into the authentic
manifestation of the culture of project. What is,
then, the secret of Italian design? Where does its
timeless spirit hide: a spirit that keeps on driving
the evolution of the discipline? From the confidence
in a better future to the technological precision;
from the willingness to experiment and get involved
to the inimitable formal coherence, the Italian line is
the material expression of a collective thought,
shared among the most important figures of that
period. Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Carlo
De Carli, Gianfranco Frattini belong to this group
of enlightened designers of the last century. They
shared ideas, thoughts and hopes for the discipline
of design. They were able to combine the manual
know-how, related to the industrial production of
belpaese with the technical science. Their hope was
to translate the myth of the Italian “good design”
into everyday reality.
Today, half a century after their creation,
the projects realized by these great masters of the
past continue to keep alive the soul of the Italian
line through a series of revivals made by Tacchini.
Tacchini proposes these pieces with the desire to
preserve and communicate the ideals that have guid-
ed their creation. Maintaining the integrity of the
original projects, Tacchini has adapted the design-
er’s drawings to modern production. In this way,
it has transferred the past design culture to the pres-
ent.
Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni
The hero of Italian design, Achille Castiglioni,
along with his brothers Pier Giacomo and Livio,
was able to find irony and beauty into the simplicity
of everyday life. From the simplest electrical switch-
es to the most iconic project of modern design,
Castiglioni brothers transformed their uncontrollable
curiosity in a series of timeless pieces. Tacchini pro-
poses the revival of two famous pieces of Achille
Castiglioni, realized inside a larger project dedicated
to the reproduction of classics of modern design.
Babela, designed in 1958 along with his brother Pier
Giacomo, and Sancarlo, created for the first time in
1970, sum up the spirit of the period joining the for-
mal experimentation to technical innovation. Achille
and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni designed Babela, a
stackable chair, for the Milan chamber of commerce.
They imagined a tower made by seats, stackable and
easily transportable. Its design was simple and ar-
chetypical, with a particular mixture of materials,
visual texture and tactile effects. On the other hand,
Sancarlo, plays with rounded and organic shapes to
allow a flexible seat, and, at the same time, suitable
to the comfort of person.
Gianfranco Frattini
Gianfranco Frattini is one of that skilled gen-
eration of architects and designers, who have marked
the Italian design movement of the last century.
Frattini’s projects are characterized by a formal ele-
gance, which is able to transmit clearly, and simply the
ideas and thoughts that led to their creation. At the
beginning of his career, he was a collaborator of Giò
Ponti. Over the years, Gianfranco Frattini will develop
a personal and symptomatic approach to the design
based on a careful formal and structural research.
Agnese and Sesann have the same soul of de-
sign, with two different visual configurations.
Designed in 1956, in the studio in via Sant’Agnese
in Milan, Agnese comes out from the idea to realize
the archetype of the informal armchair. It is charac-
terized by an upholstery seat – geometric and basic
– with a classical linear and wooden base. On the
other hand, Sesann is characterized by an organic
and informal shape, made by wrapping a tubular
metal around a soft and upholstered seat.
Relaunch of an original project of Gianfranco
Frattini dated 1957, but still actual for its shapes
and spirit, Giulia armchair creates in the contempo-
rary space a timeless feeling of beauty, comfort and
harmony. A flawless realization, typical of Tacchini’s
tradition, from the choice of materials for the em-
brace-shaped structure, to the ash wood basis dyed
dark walnut or grey with artisan taste.
Inspired by a classic piece of Italian design
designed in 1957 by Gianfranco Frattini and nomi-
nated the same year for Compasso d’Oro, Gio is a
low table which expresses an idea of rationalist rigor
and refined elegance, creating the emotion of a
warm bourgeois atmosphere. It is characterized by
the linear wood structure and by the ash double face
plan dyed dark walnut or grey on one side, or yel-
low, grey or steel blue laminated on the other side.
Designed by Gianfranco Frattini in 1957 and
produced as from the following year, Oliver sofa has
achieved a huge success over the years. Minimalist
and elegant, it features a lightweight structure in
steel with end feet in wood and tufted upholstery on
the seat and back, a detail requiring great craft ex-
pertise.
Carlo De Carli
Born in Milan, Carlo De Carli (1910-1999)
graduated in 1934 in architecture from the Polytech-
nic University of Milan, worked for a year in the
studio of Gio Ponti and took over the chair in interi-
or architecture, furniture and decoration from him
in 1962. Curator of the X and XI Milan Triennale,
he was head of the architecture faculty from 1965 to
1968. Editor of the magazine Interni from 1967 to
1971. Design, research, teaching and promotion
were the areas of action of his work, carried out
with a broad communality of thinking and focused
on people and the social and production context in
which they operate.
Sella illustrates the concept of “primary
space” from De Carli’s philosophy – that of a “rela-
tional space” –, a principle true to Tacchini’s vision
of the function of furniture and interior design.
The highly elegant sofa is made using the very finest
of materials: exposed walnut, elegant metal chromed
details finish shiny black and belts for the support
of the backrest in refined natural leather. The cush-
ions are filled with feathers, and the coverings could
be in leather, fabric or velvet. Its soft, generous
line offers the utmost refinement, and is designed to
guarantee extraordinary comfort, conducive to a
slow tempo that will reconcile us with ourselves and
others, in a more intimate and private spatial dimen-
sion.
Max Eisler
Born in Vienna in 1913, the son of the famous
art historian Max Eisler, one of the founding mem-
bers of the Austrian Werkbund, Martin Eisler stud-
ied in Vienna under the noted architects Oskar
Strnad and Clemens Holzmeister.
Costela is a paradigm of creative design.
The fundamental idea on which the chair is built is
the beautiful wooden structure with its wooden
ribs embracing both the seat and the back, and the
functional and aesthetic completion of the detail,
the large cushions, set horizontally and vertically,
ensuring absolute comfort with an extremely natural
style in their almost random position. The structure
is easy to dismantle and recycle, a characteristic
perfect for the current need and tendency to pro-
duce furniture that gives due consideration to the
principles of sustainability and durability. The possi-
bility to play with the fabric coverings makes Costela
not only an unmistakable piece of history, but
also an item of renewed and irresistible modernity.
The dynamic, flexible reissue of Reversível of-
fers dual comfort with two possible seat positions,
to sit in the chair with the back upright, or really re-
lax in a semi-reclining position, parallel with the
backrest. The simple, natural movement makes it
seem an obvious solution, but it actually represents
as ground-breaking an intuition now as then. This
original, informal seat with its distinctive lines is
completed with a metal structure and fabric cover-
ings. Reversível bears witness to the soft, sensuality
of Brazilian 1950s design, a combination of tradition
and creativity, folk craft and visionary innovation.
Objects, Stories
Objects, Stories
Design Classics
Tacchini re-editions program
