vico magistretti office museum

on march 4 opened the vico magistretti office-museum, directed by the vico magistretti foundation
and located in the rooms, where master architect and designer vico magistretti (06.10.1920 – 19.09.2006)
worked since 1946. magistretti was a prolific designer and the iconographic material, collected
by the foundation is very diverse. every three month a different exhibition will be hosted in the space,
illustrating one of magistretti’s masterpieces. the first exhibition centers around the world’s first
monobloc plastic chair.

in 1967 vico magistretti patented the principle for his ‘selene’ chair, made from just a single piece of
3 mm thick reglar (fiberglass-reinforced polyester). magistretti resolved the technical difficulties associated
with the strenght of the legs by configuring them in an ‘S’ shape.

an interactive screen displays a timeline of projects, photos, sketches …

original sketches by vico magistretti
image courtesy the vico magistretti foundation

original sketches by vico magistretti
image courtesy the vico magistretti foundation

select a sketch through touching the screen
image © designboom

all sketches by vico magistretti can be viewed (and zoomed) on the multimedia screens.
a project by demade studio.
image © designboom

original sketches by vico magistretti
image courtesy the vico magistretti foundation

patent of invention, issued in 1967
image © designboom

vico magistretti developed the innovative S-shaped cross section leg to give the sheet
material stability – there would have been more solutions to withstand maximum tensile
stress but none in such a graceful way.

‘selene’ prototype model in compression-moulded fiberglass
image © designboom

‘selene’
image from the 1969 artemide catalogue

‘selene’ was originally produced by artemide in 1969 in reinforced polyester. the shape
of the elastic back rest is very comfortable. thanks to this innovative industrial production
method, suggested by magistretti, ‘selene’ was one of the most affordable industrial products
of its time.
‘selene’ is included in the MOMA permanent design collection and the vitra design museum

on the table the miniature version of ‘selene’, produced by vitra (P.S. the real-size ‘selene’ stacks more
compact and 6 high)
image © designboom

this was the meeting room of magistretti’s office, on the wall a few architecture models are displayed.
image courtesy the vico magistretti foundation

‘selene’ on display – taken out of the mould, before refinement, produced by heller
image © designboom

in 2002, heller reissued vico magistretti’s stackable classic in white, black, red nylon,
and transparent polycarbonate

detail of heller’s ‘selene’ taken out of the mould, before refinement.
image © designboom

detail of S-structure leg
image © designboom

display of original sketches
image © designboom

a view of magistretti’s room, this and the meeting room are the only spaces of the museum which remind
of the original magistretti office
image © designboom

designboom’s editor-in-chief birgit lohmann collaborated with vico magistretti, right
after her industrial design studies from 1988 and continued to assist him in developing
many products and furniture pieces for over 15 years. for short periods she had her
drawing desk inside this office. the office-museum is of course very different from
the architecture office at that time. to make it suitable for long-time storage of materials
and a for functional display of information for visitors, a renovation of magistretti’s
original office was necessary. the architectural project has been realized by paolo imperatori,
magistretti’s collaborator in the more recent years.

vico magistretti’s daughter susanna and son stefano magistretti are heading the foundation.

other founders are silvana annicchiarico of the milan triennale design museum, and following

CEO’s of companies which have collaborated with vico magistretti:

ernesto gismondi of artemide,

gianluca armento of cassina,

luca de padova, of the de padova,

manuela messina of flou,

antonio verderi of oluce,

and enrico schiffini of schiffini.

exhibition curator is simona romano, the archivist is vico magistretti’s niece, margherita pellino.

the vico magistretti office-museum is in via conservatorio 20 in the city center of milan.
the museum is open to the public from tuesday to friday 2pm to 6pm.

(website currently in construction) for more information
[email protected]