Echoes: Cassina. 50 Years of Imaestri

This book explores the significant contribution to design culture made by Cassina, the first company to develop and industrialize timeless reeditions.

Since 1973, when Cassina launched the iMaestri Collection, the company has authentically reissued some of the most iconic models by the greatest architects of the twentieth century. The brand began this process in 1965 with the first reeditions of furniture by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and Charlotte Perriand, expanding over the years to create a specific collection with names such as Erik Gunnar Asplund, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and Gerrit Thomas Rietveld. These designs have been updated, finding new life, thanks to innovative technological development carried out by the company, always in respect of the original designs.

The collection also tells of encounters between the company and renowned Italian architects, including Franco Albini, Gio Ponti, and Carlo Scarpa, and of how this combination of creative excellence and production quality has generated such extraordinary works. With the introduction of designs by Giacomo Balla, Marco Zanuso, Ico Parisi, and Vico Magistretti, the Cassina iMaestri Collection has become a symbol of timeless elegance representing the true essence of excellence Made in Italy.

Thanks to its original graphic design, the book reflects the richness and variety of Cassina’s catalog in which icons naturally dialogue with contemporary pieces to fully emphasize the continuity between past, present, and future.

The book, edited by Ivan Mietton, is organized into five thematic chapters that feature influential texts and new photographic material produced by international contributors.

Ivan Mietton is a former curator in the Design department of the Centre Pompidou in Paris from 2002 to 2005. He has contributed to major exhibitions such as Ettore Sottsass, 20 years of Design for Olivetti and Charlotte Perriand. In 2008, he decided to focus on the production of exceptional furniture and custom-made art installations.