Broomstick

collection
chair
coat rack
bookcase
table
coffee table
armchair
pouf
sofa bed

project

1979

production

1979 - 1990

manufacturer

Alias

riedition

Campeggi (solo appendiabiti Tenorio) 1996

description

The collection includes chairs, tables, armchairs, a coat rack, and a bookcase. As says the name - suggested to Magistretti by American designer George Nelson - the objects of this series bring to mind the broomsticks which go to form them: foldable and easy to disassemble and transport, they combine wooden elements with the same cross-section. The idea arises from the need to furnish a small London apartment when the designer was teaching at the Royal College of Art with a simple, "do-it-yourself" look, and draws inspiration from the designer's first 1947 furniture which were always present in his research. The Tenorio coat rack consists of broomsticks joined at the top with other pieces which open up, with a slight twist, to form the floor support for the coat rack. The Tanganika chair and the Regina d'Africa armchair feature a canvas seat placed on a trestle: in the chair, the supports extend to uphold the backrest, and in the armchair, they open to hold up the upholstery of the seat. The Gobi and Kilim tables rest on foldable cross-braced trestles. The Bath bookcase is the redesign of a typical English clothes horse ("to look at usual things with unusual eyes" was the motto of the designer). The whole collection, except for the 1980 Cap sofa bed, was developed by the recently established Alias company that first penetrated the market thanks to this successful collection but which however was not matched by an effective production and sale. The Tenorio coat rack which when folded, is so reduced in size that it fits into a cardboard tube, was re-edited by Campeggi in 1996 under the NAME of Broomstick 1.

technical data

Tanganika walnut, cloth. Laminated white, black

OTHER MEASUREMENT=

Regina d'Africa
120x105x54 cm

Kilim
round table H 72 cm, top ø 128 cm
desk H 72 cm, top 128x88 cm
shelf H 72 cm, top 128x44 cm

Gobi
H 45 cm top 88x88 cm
H 45 cm top 128x88 cm
H 45 cm top 128x128 cm
bench H 45 cm surface 128x44 cm

Tenorio
H cm 143

Bath
H 131 cm, 73x43 cm

Cap
H 66 cm, 205x85 cm

Broomstick 1 (Campeggi)
cm 175x10 closed, 156x62 open

bibliography

G. Gamberoni, Incontro con Vico Magistretti, in Casa&Giardino 104, marzo 1980