Karakter Rampa Storage & Shelving Unit Versatile Table

Rampa, a multifunctional station on wheels from 1965, was inspired by the traditional florist’s display stands found on Italian town squares. On one side, the steps serve as a bookshelf with the four steps being covered with tempered glass plates, and a compartment in the lower large step, which is closed with a flap door. At the opposite side of Rampa, there are two visible compartments for storage as well as a larger flap that, when opened, acts as a writing desk, and reveals two more compartments, and six drawers. Thanks to the four castors, two of which has brakes, the object can easily be moved around or fixed.

MEASUREMENTS:

• Width: 100 cm / 39.5 inch
• Depth: 80 cm / 31.5 inch
• Height: 128 cm / 50.4 inch

MATERIALS:

• Solid and veneered oak with clear lacquer

HELPFUL NOTES:

• Environment: Indoor

Achille Castiglioni

Italy, 1918 - 2002

“Start from scratch. Stick to common sense. Know your goals and means.” - Achille Castiglioni

Achille Castiglioni was born in Milan in 1918 and studied architecture, graduating in 1944. As there was little work for young Italian architects immediately after World War II, Castiglioni joined his elder brothers – Livio (1911-1979) and Pier Giacomo (1913-1968) in the industrial design studio they had established on Piazza Castello in Milan. He worked with them on commercial projects such as the 1938 Caccia set of cutlery, still used in Italian homes today, and the strikingly light, svelte 1939 five valve radio receiver they developed for Phonola.

Like other recent architecture graduates, the Castiglionis began to develop products for Italian manufacturers, which were launching or rebuilding their businesses after World War II. Many of these manufacturers were young, energetic and eager to experiment with the new technologies and materials that had been developed by the defense industry during the War. This access to new technology, along with the proud artisanal tradition in Italian industry, fostered a new generation of manufacturers that relished the opportunity to collaborate with equally enthusiastic young designers to develop innovative and inspiring products for receptive post-war consumers.

Throughout Castiglioni’s career he formed close and enduring relationships with a small group of carefully selected manufacturers with which he felt empathetic. Among the most productive of these relationships was Castiglioni’s work with Flos, the Italian lighting manufacturer. He and Pier Giacomo developed dozens of extraordinarily inventive lights for Flos. The 1962 Arco floor lamp was modeled on a streetlight to project the light source eight feet from its heavy marble base and the Toio floor lamp that was inspired by a car reflector.

Castiglioni remained curious, challenging and inventive until his death in 2002. Superbly resolved as his work was in terms of its formal qualities, he never lost his wit or his delight in paradox. “There has to be irony both in design and in the objects,” he said. “I see around me a professional disease of taking everything too seriously. One of my secrets is to joke all the time.”

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Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

Italy, 1913 – 1968

The Italian designer and architect Pier Giacomo Castiglioni is the second of the three Castiglioni brothers. Like his brothers, Pier Giacomo Castiglioni studied architecture at Milan Polytechnic. In 1938 Pier Giacomo Castiglioni and his elder brother, Livio, founded a practice in Milan, which the youngest brother, Achille, joined in 1944. All three Castiglioni brothers were interested in both technology and art.

Until his death in 1968, Pier Giacomo collaborated with his brother, Achille Castiglioni, on numerous designer objects. In a 1957 exhibition in Como, Italy, Achille and Pier Giacomo exhibited their vision of a modern lifestyle; a colorful jumble of styles that incorporated old and new furnishings, instead of uniformly styled interiors. Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni showed many of their designs, including their “readymades,” Mezzadro, a stool consisting of a tractor seat mounted on a substructure and Sella, a telephone stool with a bicycle saddle as a seat.

The two brothers were particularly successful with the lighting they designed for Flos, and Artemide. They playfully explored new possibilities for form, linking technical innovation and minimalist economy of means, to produce highly functional objects that were as aesthetically satisfying as they were practical. Castiglionis designed their Taraxacum Suspension Lamp in 1960 and the Splugen for Flos was launched in 1961. Another Castiglioni design for Flos was the 1962 Arco Floor Lamp, which hangs its head like a flower and is beautifully balanced by a heavy marble base.

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