Extraordinary Cabinet, Design Carlo Pagani

While mid-century architect and furniture designer Carlo Pagani is widely known for the elegant seating he created for powerhouse Italian furniture manufacturer Arflex, his many editorial collaborations with the groundbreaking modernist architect and journalist Lina Bo Bardi are considered to be among his most important works. The pair covered furnishings, interiors, architecture and art, thoroughly documenting European contributions to 20th-century design.

The Milan-born Pagani studied architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan and the University of Rome, graduating from the latter in 1939. He returned to his native city at the invitation of his former professor Gio Ponti, arguably the most important figure in 20th-century Italian architecture and design.

Pagani’s instructor saw great potential in him. He and Bardi, a former classmate at the University of Rome, opened a studio together in Milan in 1940. Pagani initially worked on architectural projects with Ponti but was eventually added to the editorial staff at Domus — the legendary magazine Ponti founded in 1928. Bardi and Pagani designed a utopian theoretical project called Casa sul Mare di Sicilia that was published in an issue of Domus dedicated to seaside living. When Ponti left Domus and launched Stile magazine to cover urban planning, art and Italian architecture, Pagani and Bardi were invited to contribute articles, artwork and more to Ponti's new initiative.

In 1943, Pagani returned to the Domus magazine staff and asked Bardi to join him. The Italian-born Brazilian writer and architect Bardi, who began a career in design journalism in Milan, co-edited the magazine’s “I Quaderni di Domus” with Pagani — a softcover table book series highlighting the best designers and emerging products from postwar Europe, such as Alvar Aalto, Franco Albini and Vico Magistretti. The books, copies of which are very rare today, are considered quintessential documents by collectors of design ephemera and enthusiasts of Italian modernism.

Pagani was asked to design the interiors for La Rinascente, a department store in Milan’s Piazza del Duomo. The project yielded a partnership between the architect and the retailer that lasted decades. He stayed busy throughout his life — Pagani was commissioned to design chairs and other seating for Arflex, he consulted on architecture projects all over the world and continued to design buildings and home interiors.

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