Italian modern Boalum lamp, Livio Castiglioni Gianfranco Frattini, Artemide 1990

Gianfranco Frattini is widely regarded as a mid-century master of Italian modern design. He was an award-winning architect and designer, and specialized in creating furniture and decor that is both decorative and practical — Frattini’s vintage desks, armchairs, nesting tables and other works are celebrated for their sophisticated merging of function and form.

Born in Padua in 1926, Frattini studied architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan. He later apprenticed with his teacher and mentor, Gio Ponti. Through Ponti — arguably the most important figure in 20th-century Italian architecture and design — Frattini met many notable modernist designers such as Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier, but an introduction to famed Italian entrepreneur Cesare Cassina would prove incredibly significant in helping launch his career.

During the mid-1950s, Frattini began to collaborate with Cassina’s eponymous company. He designed the brand’s acclaimed leather and walnut Model 849 lounge chair — a winner of the Compasso d’Oro award — the Marema nesting tables and the iconic Sesann collection. The latter, an enduring 1970s suite of impossibly welcoming leather-covered seating, is now produced by Tacchini. In addition to Cassina, Frattini created furniture and lighting for other manufacturers such as Bernini, Arteluce, Artemide, Knoll and more.

While many of his designs incorporate glass, tubular steel and other materials, Frattini loved working with wood. The sculptural Albero bookcase — an innovative floor-to-ceiling structure made in walnut that swings on a 360-degree vertical swivel axis — is a striking example of Frattini’s dedication to traditional woodworking techniques. In the early 1970s, he traveled to Japan with friend and collaborator Pierluigi Ghianda — a master Milanese cabinet maker — in order to study the work of artisans in Kyoto. The trip inspired his design of the Kyoto table, a work of solid beech with Canaletto walnut inserts that is part of the permanent collection of the Milan Triennale’s Design Museum. The Kyoto and Albero have been revived by Poltrona Frau.

Frattini’s designs are in the permanent collections of prestigious museums such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

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Livio Castiglioni and his siblings Achille (1918–2002) and Pier Giacomo (1913–68) are responsible for creating some of the most iconic furniture designs in the world, particularly those that originated in the realm of mid-century modern lighting. Punctuating their legacy, the trio was among the founders of Italy’s Association for Industrial Design (ADI), which awards the country’s most prestigious and highly coveted design prize — the Compasso d'Oro. 

In 1936, Livio completed his studies in architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan. By 1938, he, Pier Giacomo and fellow Italian industrial designer and architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni opened their own firm in Milan. Architects at that time were struggling to secure building commissions, so the group focused on designing everyday objects such as the Model 547, a tabletop radio for Phonola that was encased in Bakelite. By 1944, the youngest brother, Achille, had also graduated from Milan Polytechnic and joined his siblings at their studio.

The Castiglioni brothers produced wildly popular and innovative designs throughout the 20th century. Vintage furniture collectors may be familiar with Livio and Italian designer Gianfranco Frattini’s serpent-like Boalum lamp or Achille’s Taraxacum hanging lamp, which was created for FLOS with sprayed plastic polymers originally intended for military use. Additionally, the Arco, Snoopy and Toio lamps, which were the result of the collaboration between Pier Giacomo and Achille, are milestones in modernist lighting design.

Despite achieving success as an industrial designer, Livio left the firm in 1952 to pursue lighting design and sound technology. He worked as a design consultant for companies such as Brionvega. 

Together with his son, Piero, Livio created the Scintilla lighting system for Fontana Arte in the 1970s and continued to design for multiple brands including Alessi, Artemide and Stilnovo until he passed away in 1979.

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