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Louis Ghost
Gnomes
Bubble Club Armchair
Bubble Club Sofa
Componibili Round - 3 Compartments
Masters
Felt Coasters for Componibili
Victoria Ghost
Maui Swivel Chair
Mobil
Prince AHA
Magazine Rack
Trays Table
Componibili Round - 2 Compartments
Componibili Castors (Set of 4)
Masters Metallic
Louis Ghost Set of 4
Battery
Small FL/Y
La Marie
Maui Chair
Dr. NO
TopTop Dining Table Small
Battista
Gastone
Optic
Panier
Jolly
Stone
Infinity
Waste basket
Bourgie
FL / Y
É
Bubble Club Table
Large Round Componibili Element
Small Round Componibili Element
Large Square Componibili Element
Ami Ami Chair
Masters Barstool
FL/Y Metallic
Componibili Metallic
Bloom Metallic Pendant Light
Mobil mat
Umbrella stand
Big FL/Y
A.I.
Charles Ghost
Dr. Na
T-Table
Tiramisù
Take
Gè
Easy
Spoon
Componibili Round Closure Top
Componibili Square Closure Top
Door For Large Square Componibili Element
Big Battery
Maui Soft Noma
Cindy
Componibili Smile
Stone Metallic
Hiray Lounge Chair
P/Wood
Maui Soft Swivel Chair
Taj
Be Bop
Masters Bar Stool Metallic
Planet Floor Lamp
Masters Set of 4
Hiray Bench
Light Air
Componibili Bio round - 3 compartements
Componibili Round - 4 Compartments
Mini Kabuki
L'Air du Temps
Componibili mat
Mini Geen-A
Piuma
Kabuki
Hiray Couch Table
Bourgie mat
Small Ghost Buster
Hiray Cushion
Generic C
Hiray Armchair
Bloom Pendant Light
Generic A
Four
Shibuya
Taj Mini
Hiray Table
Space
Hiray Chair
Spoon Chair
Bookworm
Lizz
Ero|S| G
Toobe
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Kartell - Distinctive Italian Plastic Design

The history of the Italian design manufacturer Kartell begins in 1949 when the chemist Giulio Castelli founded a plastics manufacturing company: initially focussed car parts, however, the range was quickly expanded to include laboratory equipment and household utensils with furniture and lighting added in the 1960s.

► KARTELL DESIGN - A WIDE PRODUCT RANGE WITH A WIDE PRICE RANGE
► COLLABORATIONS WITH INTERNATIONAL STAR DESIGNERS
► TOP 5 KARTELL DESIGN CLASSICS
► AWARDS FOR LEGENDARY COLLECTIONS
► KARTELL DESIGN: NEW FURNITURE WITH NEW MATERIALS

Crystal clear: Battery light

Kartell Design: New furniture with new materials

A family business now in the third generation, Kartell continues to develop with new product lines such as outdoor furniture and lights being launched and innovative developments in the areas of technologies and materials are continually being pushed forward: in 2020, for example, Kartell released three new eco-friendly product lines, including the first chair made from 100 percent recycled material, the A.I. by Philippe Starck.

The Kartell Smart Wood chair from 2019 is part of the manufacturer's first product range made of wood and is manufactured using innovative 3D technology. These advanced manufacturing methods demonstrate Kartell's commitment to not only create aesthetically pleasing products, but also to explore new ways of manufacturing and use innovative technologies.

Kartell Design - a wide product range with a wide price range

Today, Kartell's product range extends across seating furniture, table, lighting, storage and home accessory genres. Many Kartell products offer practical, stylish and affordable furnishing solutions, but there are also numerous Kartell designs available for discerning design lovers. These include, for example, upholstered furniture collections with luxurious designer armchairs and sofas as well as shelving systems. The stylish Kartell lamps by designers such as Philippe Starck and Rodolfo Dordoni also vary greatly from minimalist to neo-baroque and thus offer the ideal lighting solution for every furnishing style and budget.

Kartell design collections: Sit and shine brilliantly

For everyone who loves something particularly luxurious and shiny, Kartell has developed the Kartell Metallic collection: a selection of iconic Kartell designs in sparkling metallic copper, gold and chrome tones which are guaranteed to be eye-catchers in interior design, especially in terms of lights and chairs.
The Kartell Metallic collection also includes the Kartell Masters chair , one of numerous Kartell chairs that can be used indoors and outdoors thanks not least to their durable plastic material.

Kartell chairs: Classics, and insider tips

The Kartell chair collection also include Kartell desk chairs, such as the Spoon Chair office swivel chair, and high-quality dining chairs, such as the Q/Wood with its characteristic seat shell made of wafer-thin 3D beech wood veneer.

The Q/Wood armchair proves that Kartell design is no longer limited to products made of plastic: in addition to recycled plastic, high-quality textiles, wood and metal are now also used.

Louis Ghost Chair through Kartell

Kartell Componibili Bio

Chaise Piuma from Kartell

Battery table lamp

Bourgie lamp

Collaborations with international star designers

Crucial to Kartell's current identity was the succession of Claudio Luti, son-in-law of Giulio and Anna Castelli, to the company's leadership in 1988. Luti, who had served as Managing Director at Versace for a decade, brought a new perspective and vitality to the company and began extensive collaborations with international design giants.

Kartell: Designers

The Kartell portfolio is created in collaboration with international designers such as Patricia Urquiola, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Ferruccio Laviani, Ron Arad, Mario Bellini, Marcel Wanders or Philippe Starck. Collaborations that have proven to be fruitful and productive for the designers and the company for decades and continue to produce innovative futuristic products that explore the limits of plastic and design. And connections are often very long-lasting, as in the case of Philippe Starck: Kartell and its designers accompany each other on their careers for years.

Be Bop chair and the stool/side table Prince Aha through Kartell

Dr. NO

Hiray chair

Top 5 Kartell design classics

Kartell has been producing groundbreaking designer furniture made of plastic for more than 70 years and has revolutionized design with futuristic shapes, ironic, trendy elements and intense colours and has always demonstrated that tastes are different. And product lines were created that maintain their relevance and popularity to this day. Here, by way of an introduction, 5 of the most famous Kartell furniture classics.

Louis Ghost

Kartell Louis Ghost: Philippe Starck has designed numerous seating pieces for Kartell since the 1990s, including the virtually transparent Kartell chair Louis Ghost, which has become an icon of contemporary design. The Louis Ghost is accompanied by other matching Kartell Ghost furniture, such as the Kartell bar stool Charles Ghost. In its crystal clear colour it is virtually invisible.

Componibili

Kartell Container Componibili: The Componibili collection is one of Kartell's trademarks. Designed in 1968 by Anna Castelli Ferrieri, it is a series of practical storage containers in trendy colours that fit well in bathrooms, bedrooms or sofa corners and which can be combined with other modular.

Cindy

Kartell table lamp Cindy: The table lamp Cindy is just one of several striking lamp designs that Ferruccio Laviani designed for Kartell. The combination of metallic colours and the classic table lamp shape is an example of the Kartell design, which is often seasoned with subtle irony.

Masters

Kartell Chair Masters: Philippe Starck & Eugeni Quitllet have created with the Kartell Masters another contemporary design classic. The versatile indoor and outdoor chair impresses with its sophisticated, conceptual design idea and organic, elegant shape.

Bookworm

Kartell Bookworm wall shelf: A quintessential Kartell design classic from the 90s is the Bookworm bookshelf by Ron Arad: With its original curved shape, Bookworm resembles a wall sculpture and fits as perfectly into the Kartell portfolio as it does it any space.

Louis Ghost

Kabuki lamp

Awards for legendary collections

Over the years Kartell has been honoured with numerous international awards, including the Compasso d'Oro nine times and the Guggenheim Enterprise and Culture Award in 2000 for the Kartell Museum, founded in 1999, as best corporate museum. In addition to its flagship store in Tokyo, Kartell has recently presented extensive trade fair representations in Moscow, Shanghai and Stockholm, further expanding its international success.

Sustainability at Kartell

Under the motto "Kartell Loves the Planet", Kartell has taken a decisive path towards sustainability. A corporate sustainability code is intended to ensure that 11 of the 17 development goals proposed by the United Nations can be achieved in the future. The topic of sustainable materials now determines all production decisions so that environmental impact can be reduced to a minimum. For this purpose, Kartell only uses FSC-certified wood and uses a plastic in its organic collection that is based on agricultural production waste and is biodegradable. In addition, waste materials from its own production are processed into recyclate, which in turn is used in furniture production. In this way, Kartell is taking a significant step towards a circular economy and saving valuable emissions. The exclusive use of Polycarbonate 2.0, which combines a second-generation renewable polymer based on cellulose and paper waste with an ISCC-certified process, underlines Kartell's innovative strength in terms of sustainable solutions. Through this comprehensive commitment, Kartell makes a significant contribution to promoting a responsible and future-proof orientation in the furniture industry.

Kartell A.I chair

More about 'Kartell' in our blog

The Historia Supellexalis: "I" for Italy

...Thus the library of the House of Domus is today home to some of the most important archive material for the study of the (hi)story of furniture design in the contemporary Italy, recording and documenting as it does the rise and development of Stati and Popoli such as, and amongst many, many, others, the Cass Ina of Meda who rose from humble outfitters of simple sailing vessels to become one of the leading protagonists in the (hi)story of furniture design in Italy; the Azucena who had travelled from the dominion of Il Trovatore to Milan and where their reduced simplicity, a simplicity very much in contrast to the opulence of Il Trovatore under the rule of Conte Giuseppe Verdi, was greatly admired; the Arte Luce who once illuminated the commonwealth of Italy like a fuoco d’artificio but whose light has shone less profusely since their establishing of a union with the Illuminati di Flos; or the Castelli Kartell whose long-term Regista Anna Ferrieri demonstrated with astounding grace and simplicity that synthetic materials were both compatibile with Italian furniture design and allowed for componibili solutions...

The Historia Supellexalis: "F" for Front

Front An Anna; A Sofia; A Charlotte; A Katja; A Conduit. According to the sacred Köttbullar of Ikea, the quadruplets Anna af Front, Sofia af Front, Charlotte af Front and Katja af Front were born and raised on the island of Konstfack to the west of Stockholm,...

Gae Aulenti: A Creative Universe at the Vitra Design Museum Schaudepot, Weil am Rhein

...And for all the interplay between the various galaxies, stars and energies that compose that universe: many of her product, lighting and furniture projects originating as they did in context of architecture, interior and theatrical commissions, including, for example, the injection moulded polyurethane 4794 armchair through Kartell which was originally designed for Fiat showrooms, and which, as with Stringa, celebrates the art of lounging, the loll; the wood and metal Rossini chair, designed in 1984 for Aulenti's scenography for Ronconi's production of Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims, and later taken on by Maxalto/B&B Italia; or the King Sun and Pipistrello lamps created for the Olivetti showrooms in Buenos Aires and Paris respectively...

(smow) blog Design Calendar: August 6th 1920 – Happy Birthday Anna Castelli Ferrieri!

...With an élan that resulted in an enviable portfolio of products that have not only become established design classics in their own right but which helped establish Italian manufacturer Kartell's reputation at the forefront of plastic research and design... As fate would have it, her husband Giulio Castelli had in 1949 established a small plastics company called Kartell...

Enzo Mari. Me and the Farmer.

On Monday September 5th the Universität der Künste Berlin designtransfer centre hosted a talk with the Italian designer, design critic, design linguist and, somewhat paradoxically, design disdainer, Enzo Mari. Preparing for the event we read page upon page...


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