Olaf Von Bohr bookcase for Kartell 1970s

Designer: Olaf Von Bohr

Production: Kartell

Kartell is an Italian company founded in 1949 in Noviglio, in the province of Milan, which produces furniture and sophisticated industrial design objects in plastic. The company was founded by Giulio Castelli, a chemical engineer who started his business producing accessories for cars and plastic household items. The success of the brand was consolidated in the sixties, a particularly positive period for Italian design. The international consecration came in 1972 with the participation in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York dedicated to made in Italy furniture, and the pieces presented on that occasion, designed by Gae Aulenti, Ettore Sottsass and Marco Zanuso , are still part of the permanent collection of the museum. In the nineties he began a lasting collaboration with several internationally renowned designers, including Antonio Citterio, Ron Arad, Vico Magistretti, Philippe Starck, Piero Lissoni and many others. Furthermore, in 1999 Kartell founded the museum of the same name, which collects and exhibits more than 1000 creations. International prizes have been awarded to various Kartell products, including the Compasso d'Oro, the prize awarded annually by the ADI (Association for Industrial Design), considered the most important award in the world in the sector. The peculiarity of Kartell is the use of plastic in furniture in a completely original way and with the use of processing technologies traditionally used in other industrial sectors. Kartell products are entirely produced in Italy, even if the largest sales market is the United States. Among the most famous and most successful products are the Maui seating series by Magistretti, the transparent chair in just two pieces La Marie, the Eros armchairs and the one-piece rotational molded chair series "Ghost" and Bubble by Starck, the Bookworm bookcase by Ron Arad.

Time: 1970s

1970s

Material: