Bookwarm Small Size by Ron Arad Kartell
About the Item
- Creator:
- Dimensions:Height: 7.49 in (19 cm)Width: 7.88 in (20 cm)Depth: 125.99 in (320 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:PVC
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1970
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Naples, IT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3221322955572
Kartell
The Italian design giant Kartell transformed plastic from the stuff of humble household goods into a staple of luxury design in the 1960s. Founded in Milan by Italian chemical engineer Giulio Castelli (1920–2006) and his wife Anna Ferrieri (1918–2006), Kartell began as an industrial design firm, producing useful items like ski racks for automobiles and laboratory equipment designed to replace breakable glass with sturdy plastic. Even as companies like Olivetti and Vespa were making Italian design popular in the 1950s, typewriters and scooters were relatively costly, and Castelli and Ferrieri wanted to provide Italian consumers with affordable, stylish goods.
They launched a housewares division of Kartell in 1953, making lighting fixtures and kitchen tools and accessories from colorful molded plastic. Consumers in the postwar era were initially skeptical of plastic goods, but their affordability and infinite range of styles and hues eventually won devotees. Tupperware parties in the United States made plastic storage containers ubiquitous in postwar homes, and Kartell’s ingenious designs for juicers, dustpans, and dish racks conquered Europe. Kartell designer Gino Colombini was responsible for many of these early products, and his design for the KS 1146 Bucket won the Compasso d’Oro prize in 1955.
Buoyed by its success in the home goods market, Kartell introduced its Habitat division in 1963. Designers Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper created the K1340 (later called the K 4999) children’s chair that year, and families enjoyed their bright colors and light weight, which made them easy for kids to pick up and move. In 1965, Joe Colombo (1924–78) created one of Kartell’s few pieces of non-plastic furniture, the 4801 chair, which sits low to the ground and comprised of just three curved pieces of plywood. (In 2012, Kartell reissued the chair in plastic.) Colombo followed up on the success of the 4801 with the iconic 4867 Universal Chair in 1967, which, like Verner Panton’s S chair, is made from a single piece of plastic. The colorful, stackable injection-molded chair was an instant classic. That same year, Kartell introduced Colombo’s KD27 table lamp. Ferrierei’s cylindrical 4966 Componibili storage module debuted in 1969.
Kartell achieved international recognition for its innovative work in 1972, when a landmark exhibition curated by Emilio Ambasz called “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape” opened at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. That show introduced American audiences to the work of designers such as Gaetano Pesce; Ettore Sottsass, founder of the Memphis Group; and the firms Archizoom and Superstudio (both firms were among Italy's Radical design groups) — all of whom were using wit, humor and unorthodox materials to create a bracingly original interior aesthetic.
Castelli and Ferrieri sold Kartell to Claudio Luti, their son-in-law, in 1988, and since then, Luti has expanded the company’s roster of designers.
Kartell produced Ron Arad’s Bookworm wall shelf in 1994, and Philippe Starck’s La Marie chair in 1998. More recently, Kartell has collaborated with the Japanese collective Nendo, Spanish architect Patricia Urquiola and glass designer Tokujin Yoshioka, among many others. Kartell classics can be found in museums around the world, including MoMA, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. In 1999, Claudio Luti established the Museo Kartell to tell the company’s story, through key objects from its innovative and colorful history.
Find vintage Kartell tables, seating, table lamps and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Naples, Italy
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
- A & P.G.Castiglioni for Kartell Rocchetto Side Table, Italy 1960sBy Kartell, Achille & Pier Giacomo CastiglioniLocated in Naples, ITRare coffee table Mod. "Rocchetto," designed by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Kartell and made of ivory ABS plastic. "Rocchetto" means "reel" in Italian which serves as the ...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsPlastic
- Ferruccio Laviani for Kartell Black "Bourgie" Table Lamp, Italy 2015By Ferruccio Laviani, KartellLocated in Naples, ITBourgie is a Table Lamp designed by Ferruccio Laviani and produced by the brand Kartell. The Bourgie lamp is a Baroque-style creation with a plissé-effect lampshade made of polycarb...Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsPlastic
- Gae Aulenti for Kartell "KIng Sun" Table Lamp, Italy 1970sBy Kartell, Gae AulentiLocated in Naples, ITThis 'King Sun' lighting object was created by Gae Aulenti for Kartell in 1967. The lamp was specially designed for the Olivetti showroom in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Aulenti herself ...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsAluminum
- Carlo Bartoli for Kartell Mod.4875 Plastic Chair, Italy, 1970sBy Kartell, Carlo BartoliLocated in Naples, ITModern Italian white plastic chair with rounded seat and back, Mod." 4875" by Carlo Bartoli for Kartell, 1970s. The circular chair legs are ...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsPlastic, Rubber
- Anna Castelli Ferrieri for Kartell Componibili 3-Tier Drawer Side Table, 1970sBy Kartell, Anna Castelli FerrieriLocated in Naples, ITComponibili Classic round modular storage unit designed by Anna Castelli Ferrieri for Kartell in 1970. Componibili storage unit / 3 drawers ivory designe...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsPlastic
- Marcello Siard for Kartell Set of 6 Black Plastic Shelves, Italy 1970sBy Kartell, Marcello SiardLocated in Naples, ITSet of six shelves with asymmetrical plastic profile in black, designed by Marcello Siard for Kartell in the 1970s, are of two sizes 4 small (cm.35x44x30) and two large (cm. 35x80x30...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Shelves and Wall Cabinets
MaterialsPlastic
- Kartell Medium Bookworm Bookcase in Aluminum by Ron AradBy Ron Arad, KartellLocated in Brooklyn, NYAn artist's creativity combined with a great company’s technology results in to a bookcase design of Industrial scale that can rightfully be considered the world’s most daring and re...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Bookcases
MaterialsPlastic
- Ron Arada bookkase by Kartell 1990s.By Ron Arad, KartellLocated in bari, ITLovely Rita bookcase in red plastic designer Ron Arad for Kartell 1990sCategory
1990s Italian Mid-Century Modern Bookcases
MaterialsPlastic
- Bookcase by Ron Arad, Kartell the Creativity of Designer Ron AradLocated in Saint ouen, FRBookcase by Ron Arad. Kartell The creativity of designer Ron Arad, combined with the technology of a large company, has resulted in a bookcase project on an industrial scale that ca...Category
1990s Bookcases
MaterialsMetal
- Kartell Infinity Modular Bottle-Holder in Blue by Ron AradBy Ron Arad, KartellLocated in Brooklyn, NYInfinity is a colourful and curvilinear, modular bottle-holder. The elements which form the bottle-holder can be fastened together to form an indefinite number of rings inside which ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Dry Bars
MaterialsPlastic
- Kartell Infinity Modular Bottle-Holder in Orange by Ron AradBy Ron Arad, KartellLocated in Brooklyn, NYInfinity is a colourful and curvilinear, modular bottle-holder. The elements which form the bottle-holder can be fastened together to form an indefinite number of rings inside which ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Dry Bars
MaterialsPlastic
- Kartell Infinity Modular Bottle-Holder in White by Ron AradBy Ron Arad, KartellLocated in Brooklyn, NYInfinity is a colourful and curvilinear, modular bottle-holder. The elements which form the bottle-holder can be fastened together to form an indefinite number of rings inside which ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Dry Bars
MaterialsPlastic