Achille Castiglioni and his 107 years: “Instead of turning off the candles, we turn on all his lights”

If he thinks of his dad, the first thing comes to do is LAUGH: «What he transmitted to me, in addition to the cultural heritage that we try to keep very high, is that we must not take us too seriously, that not things should never be put down too hard. “Su, Alegher” he always said in Milanese dialect. ” Giovanna Castiglioni He wanted to remember his father’s birthday, the great Achille Castiglionifamous architect and designer born on February 16, 1918not turning off the candles, but lighting all the lights. The lights designed by him in a whole life, become iconic design pieces: from Parenthesis atArchfrom the Lamp at the Snoopy (just to name some produced by Flos) they are now part of an aesthetic that has crossed generations. «We asked, on Instagram, to send us short videos in which people light up a lamp designed by the dad. We then mounted everything to make it a composition and thus celebrate what would have been his 107 years if he had not left us in 2002 ».

But no aulinity, if anything lightness, with that child’s gaze that guided him in his work and in life: «And I think it is a precious teaching, given up in a society like today, increasingly performing and increasingly judging. And it is also for this reason that in the Achille Castiglioni Foundation, in Piazza Castello in Milan, from May, for a whole year, an exhibition on the games entitled will be set up Let’s not take too seriously. We want to continue playing, having fun ».

The interview with Giovanna Castiglioni

In the Achille Castiglioni Foundation there are many objects, created by his father and others to whom he was fond of. If you were to choose one, which one would you choose?
«The most symbolic one of all, which I also used as a wedding favor, is the broken break, which he designed in 1968, what I use when people come to us, both to make me turn off, and to put out the background noises of the city that advances and turn on the attention of visitors. If, on the other hand, I had to choose among the many funny objects we have here, I would be in difficulty to indicate only one: maybe the Slinky spring? He loved her! ».

One of his father’s great themes was experimentation. Do you like to experiment too, try new things?
«I am studying for another of my crafts, to become counselor and knowing how to dialogue better and better with those who visit us. And lately I’m doing a very small experiment, I like to ask people: “What are you the object in a house?”. For example, I would be a light bulb, even if honestly it depends on when you ask me, I could also change my mind ».

When she has to present her father to someone who does not know him, the first thing he says about him?
«I often introduce him by saying that he is a 1918 boy who has never aged. I was born that he was already great and had gray hair and so he remained forever: he really never changed for me. He had the great ability to never get bored: he ranged from designing an vacuum cleaner to a beer stapler, from a radio to a lamp. Many say it was an inventor, in reality he defined himself as a designer and is the term I also use: the etymology of “designing” is “throwing forward” and he really looked further ».

But did he expect all this success of his projects?
«No, I don’t think. He was totally giving the production and did not confront the marketing office to find out how much and how the object was then sold: as long as the projects remained in production was happy, but that’s all. For us it is important to continue to tell this beautiful story of Italian design, made by many masters like my father, all contemporary: from Bruno Munari to Ettore Sottsass, from Alessandro Mendini to Gio Ponti. It was a truly extraordinary generation, made up of pioneers, respectful of each other. When they ask me what these people would have done today, I never know what to answer: but who knows it, maybe they would have angry a lot to see a society that runs so without respite, maybe instead they would have tried, as they always did, to find the Best solution for the problems that would have been placed. And honestly I would not want to be commemorative, always continuing to think about their genius, now it is up to us to do the best ».

But in the Achille Castiglioni Foundation there is a lot of commemoration at the bottom. How do you keep the memory and the time that passes in balance?
“I have the feeling that if there was room for the commemoration as usual we meant, we would have had everything under the display and the people would have entered a space where wherever we would have been written” prohibited touch “. With us in the foundation it is different, it is like crossing a door of home. Once a visitor told me that according to there he had the feeling that Achille had come out to have a coffee at the bar and had to return to another moment. Here, we would like this more human part to pass: my father was not and did not make the arches-stars, he was a nice, cheerful gentleman, who used me as an excuse to continue playing. Here, we would like to continue on this path ».

But, since it is his birthday, he can tell us something more about him, what he liked, where he went … one of his favorite places in Milan, for example?
«He loved to go to the Ferraneo Comoretto, in Corso Como, because he found any type of switch and various bulbs. Then he loved Wildt’s ear in via Serbelloni. Even though he was so well at his house: he said it was the place where he was most regenerated.

And a book of the heart?
“He didn’t read much, the real reader was my mom, Irma. Mine have attracted me to Italo Calvino, read me and reread me The invisible cities. In addition to the books of Bruno Munari, who also loved ».

And the holidays, where did he spend them?
«My parents were very marine, they liked the sea and for many years they had a goal in Liguria. My father was not a fan of luxury machines, the luxury for him did not exist, no spectacular things. It was the type of bread, butter, museums and cathedrals. He often liked to get lost for the fog of Lombardy ».

A vice of his?
“It smoked like a damned, an ashtray, the one with the spiral, made by Alessi, was even designed.”

In almost 60 years of activity, Achille Castiglioni has created more than a hundred objects, some of which are included in the permanent collection of the Moma in New York and in many other important museums. But to see many of his projects, to understand who he was and what he left us, going to the foundation named after him, the one in Piazza Castello in Milan, is an essential step. Once can only be visited by guided tour, booking is mandatory: HERE To have all the info.