Cassina is celebrating its 90th year with a revamped headquarters in Meda, Italy. Patricia Urquiola, Cassina’s art director, restored the entrance’s 1940s-era courtyard, and created a welcome area and new communal areas. The goal, says the brand: “Allow the true essence of the headquarters to transpire, bringing it back to life in its purest form.”
Among the additions: the only authentic reproduction of “Refuge Tonneau,” the futuristic mobile shelter designed by Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Jeanneret in 1938. In 2012, Cassina created it, to scale, and the piece is now available for employees to use as a coffee-break space.
Also, the HQ’s “Galleria” area now hosts a photo exhibit featuring Armin Linke photography of the Cassina carpentry workshop, as well as archive pieces of the Superleggera chair and works developed together with Gio Ponti. It’s the first of more exhibits in the works, open to guests and employees alike.
“In the year of our 90th anniversary, I continue to say that from the history of things comes the shape of time,” said Gianluca Armento, managing director at Cassina. “Therefore, everything we do must take this into account, starting from our much loved headquarters.”
“I believe that the keyword in this historical and cultural time is, above all, ‘consistency,’” said Urquiola. “This translates in project precision, intellectual honesty and a vision towards the future.”
