Azucena has always been held in the highest esteem as an Italian brand, combining formal elegance, understated luxury and an aesthetical purity in its collections, all manufactured to the highest standard.
Identity
Luigi Caccia Dominioni
Founded in 1947 by Luigi Caccia Dominioni, Ignazio Gardella and Corrado Corradi Dell’Acqua, Azucena was the first producer of furniture and interior design objects in Milan, the future capital of design. Named after Azucena, the gypsy in the Italian opera Il Trovatore, the architects created this brand to bring together a number of collections to furnish buildings they had designed. At the same time they saw an opportunity to produce individual pieces as part of their series of furniture collections. This resulted in a range of iconic pieces - in particular the “Catilina” chair - recognisable for marrying different but very refined materials, reworked into traditional stylistic forms.
B&B Italia acquired the historic brand, intending to preserve it as part of Italy's rich heritage, and it is being relaunched in 2018 with a series of "modern classics" designed by the architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni from the late 1940s onwards. The collection includes chairs, sofas, tables and lamps that symbolise 'made in Italy' design and that return today as a showcase of style and quality.
A master of Italian design
Luigi Caccia Dominioni
There are times when you see an object for the first time and it is instantly recognisable. You are thunderstruck as though you’ve fallen in love and you know your quest is over. This flash of recognition often occurs when you first look on work by Luigi Caccia Dominioni, one of the absolute masters of Italian design. While acclaimed in professional circles his name is not nearly as widely known as his designs. His trademark fusion of curves and straight lines, steel and velvet, the traditional and the contemporary, dreams and everyday life, surrealism and practicality all set him apart without defining a particular or replicable style.
Toro armchair
A reference point for contemporary designers, he explored the relationship between modernity and tradition during his career, providing a definite contribution to redefining the architecture of his home city, Milan, after the second World War. His most famous works in the city are the blocks of flats in Via Ippolito Nievo, the San Felice district and the redevelopment of Piazza San Babila. As a designer, instead, his most famous work was the Catilina armchair produced in 1957. Luigi Caccia Dominioni won the prestigious Compasso d’Oro for important projects and also received the Compasso d’Oro for his career and for his objective contribution to the very definition of Italian design and the originality of its content.
Icon
Catilina
From the moment it was first presented at the XI Triennale in Milan in 1957, Catilina became one of Luigi Caccia Dominioni’s classics. He loved the design so much that guests in his studio would settle down by his desk to chat in these chairs. At first glance you would be forgiven for assuming this unusual object to be unfinished. Instead Caccia Dominioni created both a new chair and defined how to sit in it. Catilina is not designed for relaxation and letting go but for thoughtfulness and elegance.
Key Figures