Wiener GTV Design Thonet - Magistretti table 03 02

Support structure in solid beech with round section elements. The base is made up of three legs intersected by two hoops of the same diameter. The round , flush top is in extra clear transparent glass.

Vico Magistretti

Vico Magistretti was born in Milan on 6 October 1920. He comes from a family of architects for many generations. In 1956 he was among the founding members of ADI, the Association for Industrial Design, and was part of the jury of the Compasso d'Oro Prize. The attention paid to the theme of living will eventually monopolize his activity as an architect, making him develop an extremely expressive language. Magistretti is one of the fathers of the so-called Italian Design, a phenomenon that he himself defines as "miraculous" and that could only occur thanks to the meeting of two essential components: architects and manufacturers. At the end of the 60s he began collaborating with producers, including Artemide, Cassina and Oluce, creating objects that will remain the "classics" of design. Compasso d'Oro Per Cassina wins the award with the Maralunga sofa (1979). With Artemide he designed various lamps winning the coveted prize for the famous Eclisse (1967); Among the furniture items, he designed the chair Selene (1969), which, with Panton Chair and Universal Joe Colombo, contends for the first plastic chair in the world. For many years he is also art director and main designer of Oluce. Among his masterpieces, icons recognized throughout the world, lamps: Snow (1974), Sonora (1976), especially Atollo (1977, Compasso d'oro award 1979). In 1994 he was awarded the Compasso d'Oro Lifetime Achievement Award. At the end of the '80s the association with an exceptional publisher was established: Maddalena De Padova, awarded with the Compasso d'Oro for Lifetime Achievement on the occasion of the XX edition of the award in Europe.  The collection "is De Padova" by Magistretti includes among the classics: the chair Marocca (1987), the table Vidun (1987), the chair Silver (1989), the wicker chair Uragano (1992), the chair Incisa (1992), the most recent table Blossom (2002). For Flou he invented new types of beds, including, after the Nathalie bed (1978), the first fully upholstered bed, in 1993, another innovative bed, Tadao, whose base together with the headboard is an essential reinterpretation of the slatted structure. At the end of the 90s another fundamental professional relationship was born, the one with Campeggi with which he will create undisputed masterpieces of design. Among these we remember the Kenia chair (1995), the Ospite bed (1996), the Africa armchair (2000) and many others. His design works are exhibited at the permanent collection of the MoMA in New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Die Neue Sammlung in Munich and at numerous other museums in America and Europe.

Wiener GTV Design Thonet

Michael Thonet (1796-1871) and his five children were the most successful manufacturers of furniture in the Industrial Age. Gebrüder Thonet Vienna GmbH (GTV) has develop edits work in a successful blend of the traditional and the modern, of continuity and renewal, with a new production program that begins by re-editing a series of Gebrüder Thonet classics. At the same time, GTV stands for contemporary furnishing. Advanced production techniques are applied to innovative designs and uses of materials, to create highly sought-after, multipurpose furnishing items. Truly original, up-to-date solutions that integrate well with the more classic products of its catalogue, now reworked.Items such as chair No. 14, of which more than 50 million were made between 1850 and 1930, have gone down in history for their fine design and manufacturing quality, and yet still today excite and attract new generations. GTV always succeeds in finding the perfect combination of tradition and innovation, assisted by continuous research into new, clear-cut, versatile designs.The tangible and intangible intrinsic value of the GTV collection is expressed in the Wiener GTV Design brand, engraved on a coin embedded in the structure of each single piece: a precious detail that certifies authenticity, originality and quality in stable balance between manufacturing and high-level craftsmanship. Inspiring this unique detail was the coin with the image of the brand that was historically spent internally within Thonet production facilities throughout Europe.