Total Design Milanese Style – The Archille Castigloni Studio

I have recently returned from a holiday in Italy which also encompassed a trip to Milan to visit the Salone. Milan is the powerhouse of Italy and the powerhouse of Italian design. Fuorisalone or outside the Salone for me is the best part of the Furniture fair and every year installations and pavilions are set up in various locations such as the architectural installation by Stephen Holl at the University of Milan.

Apart from fuorisalone there is a rich mix of buildings and design studios one can visit. This year I visited the studio of Archille Castiligoni and I was reminded of Ernesto Roger’s phrase ‘ from the spoon to the city’. The Castigiloni Studio is a great example of this total design concept. The spirit of the designer has not been lost in the transition from studio to museum and houses a rich mix of books, papers, drawings, ideas, and lots of other everyday stuff which the designer collected that inspired him.

Castigilone engaged in designing the various parts of the whole, equal effort being spent on the design of everyday objects such as lamps, light switches and cutlery as the design of a building or a city. My personal favourite is the ‘Parentesi’ or pulley lamp where the light slides down a wire and has a counterweight on the bottom and the beautiful vacuum packed kit it comes in. This design won the Compasso d’Oro in 1979. The environment the architect worked in was clearly a workshop atmosphere where experimental and inventive ideas were nurtured. The studio felt very alive and relevant many years after the designer’s death.

The rise of Italian design is a post world war 2 phenomenon and is in part the result of the special relationship between industry and design. This special environment may not be as strong in other parts of Europe, or even in Italy today, but this total design concept, and in particular this studio, left me thinking we should all look harder at what is around us; be inspired by the everyday and work on improving all the different parts that make up our buildings and cities. After all architecture is a collection of different details and if we are to translate this into the design of everyday objects, a great place to start the journey is a visit to the Castiglione Studio.