15 Years of Transparency
Milan
2014
Milan
2014
From La Marie to Uncle Jack, the history of a material on the move
2014 is an important anniversary for Kartell as it celebrates the crowning moment of its innovative pursuit of technological innovation begun in 1999 with the design of La Marie, the first entirely transparent design chair.
Polycarbonate, the material used in the latter half of the 1900s only for pharmaceutical and electronic equipment, was introduced into the world of furnishings and made it possible to achieve a quality which had previously belonged only and exclusively to glass - transparency.
Louis Ghost, Ghost Buster, Francois Ghost, Mr Impossible and Invisible Table, the brand's greatest bestsellers, are only some of the milestone stages leading to an authentic aesthetic and industrial revolution.
With the Uncle Jack sofa, the single piece of polycarbonate weighing 30 kg and measuring almost 2 m in length presented at the 2014 Salone del Mobile, the Milanese brand has set another record with this production of the largest injection moulding piece in the world in the furnishing sector.
From September to December 2014 the Kartell transparency theme will be stopping in at various places on its world tour. It will be the main theme of the European D'Days and of the most important sector fairs in Moscow, Copenhagen and Kortrijk and the star player at the exclusive show at Roppongi in Tokyo where the brand will be displaying the designs of Tokujin Yoshioka, one of the main interpreters of this important anniversary.
With the Uncle Jack sofa, the single piece of polycarbonate weighing 30 kg and measuring almost 2 m in length presented at the 2014 Salone del Mobile, the Milanese brand has set another record with this production of the largest injection moulding piece in the world in the furnishing sector.
From September to December 2014 the Kartell transparency theme will be stopping in at various places on its world tour. It will be the main theme of the European D'Days and of the most important sector fairs in Moscow, Copenhagen and Kortrijk and the star player at the exclusive show at Roppongi in Tokyo where the brand will be displaying the designs of Tokujin Yoshioka, one of the main interpreters of this important anniversary.
LA MARIE - 1999
The first chair in the world made of polycarbonate. An ordinary name for a revolutionary design.
LOUIS GHOST – 2002
With more than 1.5 million pieces sold, the Louis Ghost chair sets the sales record in design.
BOURGIE – 2004
The traditional table lamp re-interpreted using transparent polycarbonate. A revolution in taste and in modern aesthetics.
MR IMPOSSIBLE – 2008
The name says it all! This was the first time anywhere that the laser was used to join two surfaces of that diameter: the result is an armchair that looks like it is floating on air.
GHOST BUSTER – 2010
Transparency makes it intangible and nude: it is, as Starck says "an evocative image, a ghost of those commodes that may perhaps have existed but which I never ran across".
INVISIBLE TABLE – 2012
A table with an ethereal, crystalline look, like glass, but with the strong and sturdy temperament of polycarbonate.
UNCLE JACK – 2014
A huge investment in human and financial resources for an absolute record: 1.90 m in length, 95 cm high, weighing almost 30 kg for the largest piece ever made in one single transparent polycarbonate injection mould.
The first chair in the world made of polycarbonate. An ordinary name for a revolutionary design.
LOUIS GHOST – 2002
With more than 1.5 million pieces sold, the Louis Ghost chair sets the sales record in design.
BOURGIE – 2004
The traditional table lamp re-interpreted using transparent polycarbonate. A revolution in taste and in modern aesthetics.
MR IMPOSSIBLE – 2008
The name says it all! This was the first time anywhere that the laser was used to join two surfaces of that diameter: the result is an armchair that looks like it is floating on air.
GHOST BUSTER – 2010
Transparency makes it intangible and nude: it is, as Starck says "an evocative image, a ghost of those commodes that may perhaps have existed but which I never ran across".
INVISIBLE TABLE – 2012
A table with an ethereal, crystalline look, like glass, but with the strong and sturdy temperament of polycarbonate.
UNCLE JACK – 2014
A huge investment in human and financial resources for an absolute record: 1.90 m in length, 95 cm high, weighing almost 30 kg for the largest piece ever made in one single transparent polycarbonate injection mould.
