Kartell Maui Soft Chair, Set of 2 tribute to Vico Magistretti
At A Glance: Designed between 1995 and 1996, the original Maui Chair was the first of a new era of single-mold seats without ribbing, tracery, metal supports, or reinforcements to support the back. In 2012 Kartell introduced this fabric-covered version, increasing its rich family of colors and functions and making it able to satisfy the specific needs in the contract sector as well as in the home. Comes as a set of 2 chairs.
What's To Like:
Now one of Kartell's first innovations has padding. That's a relief. Come on in to the dining room, Maui Soft!
Sturdy and light, this chair will take a lickin' and keep on tickin'.
What's Not to Like: Innovative design and material aside, some people want a traditional chair. We get that.
The Bottom Line: Maui Soft's elegant lines and practicality make it an extremely versatile design - as strikingly functional today as it was yesterday.
Vico Magistretti The Maui Soft Chair is a tribute to Vico Magistretti, who was born in Milan in 1920. He graduated from the Polytechnico in Milan in 1945. In the wake of the devastation of World War II, the young architect was inspired by modernist ideals. He sought to create a new kind of design which was simple, functional, rational, elegant - and anonymous. He wanted to produce "anonymous traditional objects" which seemed to have evolved organically rather than to have been designed. This attitude was evident already in the first pieces he exhibited in the late forties, including bookshelves suspended from metal tubes, a bookcase which resembled a ladder, and stackable tables. Magistretti has influenced generations of designers with his emphasis on what he calls "concept design." Concept design, he says, "starts from a precise executive and functional concept and is so simple that it endows the object with its distinctive character." This type of design is so simple that it can be described without a drawing. He rejects the opposite way of working, which he calls "styling design" and which means useless or redundant decoration. In the course of his long and productive career, Vico Magistretti has won innumerable awards and honors, including three Compasso d'Oro awards. His work is in museums worldwide. In his Milano studio, he continued to create designs whose simplicity and freshness expressed the essence of his spirit until he passed away in October 2006.
Creativity and technology, glamour and functionality, quality and innovation: a combination of extraordinary factors together with a strategic vision of distribution has contributed to the lasting success of Kartell. By cultural and entrepreneurial choice, since its origins in 1949 the Italian manufacturer has chosen to characterize itself as the market leader in the production of designer articles which use technology and plastic materials. This choice requires a great understanding of materials and transformation technology. A leader in furniture design, Kartell addresses an international audience with a collection unique in originality, variety, size, and range.
Vico Magistretti
