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1955

Werner Blaser,

dettaglio della

giunzione

a tripla forcella.

Werner Blaser,

close-up of the

triple fork junction.

Werner Blaser

The first modern designers

were Werner Blaser,

Yasuhiko Itoh, Donato

D’Urbino and Carlo Volonterio.

They were the forefathers,

the noble precursors,

the first explorers of

a new world, modernity.

Before them, classic, period furniture,

well made, well designed, but no name,

not produced on an industrial scale.

The first modern designers came

to Brianza from all over the world

for an international competition,

the Selettiva di Cantù, in 1955.

That was how furniture designers

and makers met. Molteni&C – then

Industria Mobili Molteni Angelo –

produced the prototypes.

Founded in 1934 by Angelo Molteni,

by the Fifties the firm already boasted

a workforce of 200. Not yet

an industrial set-up but more than

an artisan workshop, the company

had already installed the first numerical

control machines that would control

the whole supply chain, from tree trunk

to furniture. And it was turning out

large numbers of beds, bedside tables,

chests of drawers, dining room suites,

wardrobes. So what was missing,

then, for it to become a fully-fledged

design business? Designers, forward-

looking architects who were inventing

new ways of living. A Swiss designer,

Werner Blaser, was the forerunner.

His was the first prototype of “modern”

furniture. Thanks to the Cantù

Exhibition/Competition, devised

to upgrade the district’s furniture-

making image, and to Angelo

Molteni’s vision. Blaser’s project,

four complete suites made

by Molteni&C – including a chest

of drawers and a wardrobe

– won the first prize. The jury was

a prestigious one: Gio Ponti, president,

with Alvar Aalto, Romano Barocchi,

Carlo De Carli and Finn Juhl.

The project, based on the essential

principle of the 3-fork joint,

was Bauhaus inspired. Modernity

lies in that joint: “From this single

connecting system”, said Blaser,

“typologies of furniture are made:

such as stools, chairs, armchairs,

tables, shelves and wardrobes.

A minimum amount of material

and construction (system) creates

a maximum amount of dimensions

and proportions (typologies)”.

Born in 1924 in Basle, a pupil

of Alvar Aalto, Blaser studied

at the Illinois Institute of Technology

in Chicago and in Japan, he opened

his own studio in his home town

in 1959 and worked at length with

Mies van der Rohe. The chest

of drawers, designed for the Cantù

Selettiva and never produced

on an industrial scale, is offered

in the Heritage Collection.

After issuing a limited edition run

of 100 numbered pieces, two new

non-numbered versions are available

in the new finishes honey pattern

wood and black ash wood.

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