KARTELL: Original plastic furniture
Nov 20, 2017
Kartell is one of the most famous brands made in Italy, a symbol of excellence in the world of furniture. Since 1949 the company has followed its credo of producing weightless and stylish furniture made of ordinary plastics.
"We started to use plastics not because they are cheaper, but because they are easier to mould into the most incredible shapes," explains company president Claudio Luti. And this is what attracts many designers to collaborate with the Italian brand. Among the designers who have made the brand great are Ludovico "Vico" Magistretti, who created the very popular Maui chair, Philippe Starck, who created the first chair for Kartell, Dr. Glob, Alberto Meda for the Honeycomb chair and Antonio Citterio for his Mobil nightstand, as well as other high-profile designers such as Patricia Urquiola and Ferruccio Laviani, who have designed items for the Milan-based company that have become icons of beauty. This is just a small part of the list: every year a dozen contemporary designers work for Kartell.
Today the Italian brand has earned international recognition and a place of honour in leading museums of design and contemporary art around the world, such as the Triennale d'arte di Milano and the Museum of Modern Art di New York.
Kartell products are recognisable both for the materials used and for the original and bold solutions that the talented designers come up with. We are currently focusing on the Ghost and Masters chair collections, two models that have become hallmarks of the company.
The striking Masters chair is a collaboration between two designers, Philippe Starck and Eugene Kuitlit. The creators themselves also call the Masters a "citation chair", which encodes the silhouettes of three famous models from famous designers of the twentieth century. They are the Series 7 chair by Arne Jacobsen, the Tulip chair by Eero Saarinen and the Eiffel chair by Charles Eames. According to Philippe Starck, the combination of the three design masterpieces has created 'a new product, a new project, a reflection of our changing world'.
The transparent Louis Ghost chair was also designed for Kartell by Philippe Starck. The year of creation is 2002, and since then more than 1.5 million pieces have been produced, enjoying resounding success around the world.
The Louis Ghost is an ironic plastic version of the classic King Louis XVI chair, in which the baroque and innovative modern design merge. This chair is completely unobtrusive, appears crystal and almost merges with the space. On the other hand, it is a very sturdy product, resistant to both impact and negative environmental influences.
"The ghost of Louis" appears year after year in a new guise, changing colour and shape. Items in bright, saturated hues exude charisma and aesthetic appeal, capable of adding elegance and irony to any living or public space. However, the classic armchair with its clear plastic finish, a reference to the rococo style of France in the Louis XV period, remains the most popular.
Philippe Starck is the creator of dozens of material hits, from the Microsoft optical mouse to the torch for the 1992 Olympic Games. He is also known as a pop star of industrial design and is not at all embarrassed by the title: design should not aspire to be art, its main aim is to increase functionality, says the star designer. Starck concentrated on this characteristic when designing the Louis Ghost for Kartell: The transparent and delicate chair is difficult to damage, or even scratch.
Creativity and technology, functionality and luxury, quality and innovation - that is the special combination of factors which, in conjunction with a strategic distribution organization, is the reason for Kartell's success. Today the company Kartell has 130 flagship shops worldwide, and the main export flow goes to the United States. In Minsk, you can buy the chairs Kartell in the showroom New Studio.
P.S. Models Kartell Masters (in black) and Kartell Louis Ghost (classic transparent version) are available in the showroom at Nemiga 12 in Minsk. Hurry up and buy: in November all the furniture at the exhibition has discounts!