Tavolo e poltrone di Charles Rennie Mackintosh per Cassina, anni '70, set di 5

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a Scottish architect, watercolorist, and designer, who played an important role in the turn-of-the-century Post-Impressionist, Arts & Crafts, and Art Nouveau movements.

Born in 1868 in the industrial town of Glasgow, Mackintosh became interested in design and architecture at a young age. At fifteen, he enrolled in the Glasgow School of Art, where he befriended Herbert McNair (1868-1955), along with sisters Frances (1873-1921) and Margaret (1864-1933) Macdonald —his future wife. The foursome collaborated on designs for furniture, metalwork, and illustrations, developing a highly distinctive array of motifs, including abstracted female figures and swirling lines, reminiscent of illustrator Aubrey Beardsley. The aesthetic was deemed eerie (or “emo” in today’s parlance) by many of their contemporaries, who called Mackintosh and his group the “Spook School.”  History has redeemed them, however, and their penchant for romantic and refined stylization has since been renamed “The Glasgow School” of the international Art Nouveau style.

In 1889, Mackintosh became an apprentice at the architectural firm Honeyman & Kreppie, where he made partner in 1901. Using a simple and unique vocabulary of roses, geometric patterns, and attenuated lines, Mackintosh’s designs demonstrated a break from traditional Victorian architecture at the time—as he believed that architects should have the artistic freedom to design as they like. His inspiration came from Celtic and Japanese art, the Scottish Baronial style, as well as progressive art and architecture theorists, like William R. Lethaby (1857-1931), Charles Voysey (1857-1941), Richard Norman Shaw (1831-1912), Augustus Pugin (1812-1852), and John Ruskin (1819-1900). Mackintosh's architectural projects include the Glasgow Herald Building (1894) and several buildings for his alma mater, the Glasgow School of Art (1986-1909). Mackintosh was also famously commissioned by patron Catherine Cranston to design the Willow Tearoom interiors (1897-1917) and furnishings, which include the Argyle Chair (1897) and Willow Chair (1904). For his other patron, W.W. Blackie, Mackintosh designed the iconic Hill House Chair (1902), which was heavily influenced by Japanese design.

Unfortunately, Glasgow was not large enough to support the fame and recognition that Mackintosh coveted, so he sought out other places to work, such as Germany and Austria, where he was very well received. He was commissioned to design the Warndorfer Music Salon (1901) in Austria, as well as the Mackintosh Room at the 1902 Turin International Exhibition in Italy. 

Mackintosh died in London in 1928 unware of the impact his designs would bear on future generations. By the end of the 20th century, he had posthumously achieved his much desired fame. Today, he is recognized as a key pioneer in modernist design. 

Il gigante italiano del mobile Cassina, originariamente Amedeo Cassina, viene fondato dai fratelli Cesare (1909-1979) e Umberto (1910-1992) Cassina nel 1927 a Meda, in Italia. Sebbene la fabbrica fosse inizialmente specializzata nella creazione di arredamento in legno su misura, e di interni di classe, i due fratelli decidono negli anni '50 di prendere un'altra direzione, anticipando l'esplosione della domanda per arredamento prodotto in serie. Cassina ha perciò il merito indiscusso di aver introdotto il design industriale in Italia, collaborando con alcuni dei designer di maggior successo su scala mondiale.

Nel 1964 Cassina stipula un contratto esclusivo per i diritti sui design di Le Corbusier - mentre il leggendario designer era ancora in vita - di Pierre Jeanneret, e di Charlotte Perriand. La compagnia presto lancia la collezione I Maestri che riunisce, nel corso degli anni, grandi icone della storia del design, come la poltrona LC4 Lounge (1928) progettata da Le Corbusier, Jeanneret, e Perriand; la poltrona 635 Red & Blue Armchair (1918) dell'architetto olandeseGerrit Rietveld, la Hill House Chair (1902) del designer scozzeseCharles Rennie Mackintosh, e molti altri acnora.

Specializzata nell'associarsi ai migliori design in circolazione, piuttosto che nel mantenere uno stile particolare, Cassina ha contribuito alla creazione di alcuni dei design più amati ed eleganti del XX e XXI secolo. Prodotti di particolare rilievo includono la sedia Superleggera (1957) dell'architetto e designer italiano Gio Ponti, la sedia Kanu (2009) del tedesco Konstantin Grcic, il divano Zephyr (2013) dell'architetto anglo-iraniana Zaha Hadid, e il divano My World (2013) del designer francese  Philippe Starck’s. Nelle sue visionarie collaborazioni con luminari del design, e nuovi talenti provocatori, Cassina rimane sempre dedita agli ideali italiani di qualità e artigianato, e continua ad eccellere nella fusione di tecnologia e design industriali con produzione artigianale e di qualità.

I prodotti di Cassina fanno parte di collezioni permanenti in musei di tutto il mondo, come il MoMA (New York), il Vitra Design Museum (Weil am Rhein), ed il Museo del design di Londra.

Cassina fa oggi parte del prestigioso gruppo Poltrona Frau.

* Tutte le immagine per gentile concessione di Cassina.