13 October 2014
Forty pieces to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of an icon that is now part of the history of the design: Vico Magistretti’s Maralunga couch for Cassina. And as is only fitting for an important anniversary, you put on your best clothes. In this case, silver upholstery with a metalized effect that underlines the exclusivity of the limited edition. Maralunga Mercurio Vivo is the fruit of reflection by students at the ECAL in Lausanne on the best way to celebrate a product whose popularity has shown no sign of waning since 1974. At its origin, there was the desire of Magistretti and Cassina to fuse two typological functions in a single form, the couch for conversation and the one for rest, through the contemporary presence of the high back and the low back. And this is the element that embodies the central concept of the design: a back that be easily folded, allowing its function to be transformed with a simple gesture. The secret lies in the use of a bicycle chain, able to provide structure and at the same time flexibility. Thus the clutch movement of the chain became the basis for the engineering of a product that, as in the best tradition of Italian design, was born out of an encounter between craft practice and technological innovation.
Photo: Mario Carrieri. © Archivio Cassina.
Courtesy: Fondazione Vico Magistretti
Courtesy: Fondazione Vico Magistretti
Courtesy: Fondazione Vico Magistretti
Courtesy: Fondazione Vico Magistretti
Courtesy: Fondazione Vico Magistretti