When Artek was founded in 1935, a manifest was drawn up, inspired by Functionalism. The vision was to interconnect modern visual arts and rational furniture production with popular education. The philosophy of Artek has been moulded by strong and talented people whose ideologies and radicalism are today more vibrant than ever.

Artek’s original values – long-term durability and high quality combined with a clean form language – are still the company’s driving forces.

Sedia 1 – Chair // Homage to Autoprogettazione

Enzo Mari is a designer, thinker and provocateur.

Determined to develop mass-produced objects without compromising his belief that the outcome should always be beautiful to look at and feel while being functional, Mari developed “16 Animali” (Danese, 1957), “3087 Vase” (Danese, 1969), the chairs “Sof Sof” and “Box” (Driade, 1971 and Castelli, 1975) and “Smith & Smith” kitchen tools (Zani & Zani, 1987).

These are just some of his more than 2000 projects that have marked design history.Sedia 1 – Chair is the first object from the famous and thought-provoking project “Autoprogettazione” (1974) to go into production with Artek. In line with the original idea of the project, customers will purchase a set of precut pinewood boards, nails and instructions for the chair.

”Design is always education,” sums up Mari.

Artek has also produced a 20-minute documentary “ which Mari explains the idea behind the concept. The film will receive its world premiere at the Triennale Museum during Abitare Talks on Wednesday, April 14, at 6 pm, in the presence of Enzo Mari.

Spazio Rossana Orlandi April