Achille Castiglioni was a well-known Italian designer working in the 20th century. He took inspiration from everyday objects and emerging industrial processes to reinvent objects by giving them new forms and materials. Many of his designs, particularly for lighting, have become iconic, and have influenced other designers ever since. He is often considered to be one of Italy’s most influential designers.
Achille Castiglioni: a biography
Achille Castiglioni was born on 26 February 1918 in Milan. He studied architecture at the Politecnico di Milano, graduating in 1944, after which he opened a design studio together with his two brothers Livio and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni. While Livio left the practice in 1952, the two others continued to work together until Pier’s death in 1968, together producing the famous Arco floor lamp (1962) and the Toio floor lamp (1962). After this point, famous designs by Castiglioni such as the Frisbi pendant lamp (1978) and Taraxacum 88 S (1988) pendant lamp, were produced under Achille’s name alone.
In 1956, Achille Castiglioni founded the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI) and curated the exhibition "Colori e forme nella casa d'oggi", held in the Villa Olmo at Como. From 1947 onwards, Castiglioni exhibited his work at every edition of the Milan Triennale until his death, and was seven-time winner of the Compasso d'Oro design prize given there. He was also was an honorary member of the Association of Industrial Designers of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Many objects by Achille Castiglioni are widely considered to be design classics, and are still in production today. Indeed, some of his most important designs are held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Toio Lamp: a design classic
The Toio Lamp was designed in 1962 by the brothers Achille and Pier Castiglioni. Due to its high industrial style and timeless design, the luminaire has won many awards and forms part of the permanent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
Castiglioni’s vision of design was that it should be an all encompassing force, influencing the usage, appearance, and manufacturing process of modern objects. The Toio Lamp reinvented the lamp by bringing together all of these aspects of design, and was also inspired by everyday objects: a car headlight, a transformer, and steel brackets. Many of Castiglioni’s designs had this distinctly down-to-earth character grounded in the realities of industrial manufacturing.
Achille Castiglioni’s Frisbi Lamp
Designed by Achille Castiglioni in 1978 for the Italian lighting brand Flos, the Frisbi Lamp is a classic pendant lamp typical of Castiglioni’s style. Using a minimal number of elements – a razor-thin, doughnut-shaped disk hanging from three wires below a smaller lampshade – Castiglioni created an ingeniously simple design. The form is futuristic because the deconstructed shade appears to float below the bulb, while on a function level the luminaire provides a mixture of direct, reflected and diffuse light.
The Flos Taraxacum Lamp: a modern pendant lamp
The Taraxacum 88 Lamp was created in 1988 by Achille Castiglioni for Flos, and is now one of his best-known works. The name "Taraxacum" is the scientific name for dandelions, and Castiglioni tried to create a modern pendant inspired by the plant’s form. The Taraxacum Lamp is formed as a large, faceted ball covered in individual light bulbs, which became an instant classic and continues to be used in many styles of interiors to this day.
© by Architonic
