Six different pieces (2 sofas, 2 armchairs, and 2 poufs) that can be placed within a space in endless possible combinations. This freedom of movement endows Marcel with a presence that escapes the traditional definition of furniture, emerging as a new type of seating. The artistic and human bond between Takahama and Gavina has produced many of the most salient works in Italian design history.
Among these, the MArcel modular family stands out for having generated a new type of seating which has been amply imitated ever since its creation. This seating set is the first complete, organic experience in the correct use of poliurethane foam cut into large blocks. Marcel is the simple yet masterful achievement of two elementary-shaped blocks set against each other and held up by a flat aluminum sheet, doing away with the standard leg system. From this basic concept, Takahama developed other models which included a base.
All the designers who have worked with this material since have done little more than repeat the forms and methods already implicit in these models, which were endowed with exceptional functional and figurative qualities. The production of Marcel, a name chosen by Gavina in homage to his friend Marcel Duchamp, fell into the orbit of the aesthetic statements that exploded in the 1960s, spurred not only by a reaction against the worn precepts of functionalism, but also by the staggering development of technology and the economic boom of the period.
Consequently, Marcel had certain influences from the Pop movement in its use of shapes, materials and colours that had formerly been inconceivable for the home. Yet, unlike most other furniture in the Pop aesthetic, Marcel was the outcome of creativity coupled with methodological rigor, of consistency with industrial production methods, and was meant, from the start, to have a lasting, timeless quality to it. In 1955, Marcel Duchamp claimed of his own work that"painting should not address itself only to the retina or the eye; it should concern the gray matter of our understanding instead of being purely visual".
Design:
Kazuhide Takahama
Year:
1965 (reedition 2004)
Manufacturer:
Santa & Cole
Among these, the MArcel modular family stands out for having generated a new type of seating which has been amply imitated ever since its creation. This seating set is the first complete, organic experience in the correct use of poliurethane foam cut into large blocks. Marcel is the simple yet masterful achievement of two elementary-shaped blocks set against each other and held up by a flat aluminum sheet, doing away with the standard leg system. From this basic concept, Takahama developed other models which included a base.
All the designers who have worked with this material since have done little more than repeat the forms and methods already implicit in these models, which were endowed with exceptional functional and figurative qualities. The production of Marcel, a name chosen by Gavina in homage to his friend Marcel Duchamp, fell into the orbit of the aesthetic statements that exploded in the 1960s, spurred not only by a reaction against the worn precepts of functionalism, but also by the staggering development of technology and the economic boom of the period.
Consequently, Marcel had certain influences from the Pop movement in its use of shapes, materials and colours that had formerly been inconceivable for the home. Yet, unlike most other furniture in the Pop aesthetic, Marcel was the outcome of creativity coupled with methodological rigor, of consistency with industrial production methods, and was meant, from the start, to have a lasting, timeless quality to it. In 1955, Marcel Duchamp claimed of his own work that"painting should not address itself only to the retina or the eye; it should concern the gray matter of our understanding instead of being purely visual".
Design:
Kazuhide Takahama
Year:
1965 (reedition 2004)
Manufacturer:
Santa & Cole
