Zanotta

Quaderna 476 Wall mirror plastic material / L 51 x H 195 cm - Superstudio, 1972

The Quaderna collection by Superstudio is renowned for embodying the radical design of the sixties and seventies. Showered with numerous awards and distinctions, and exhibited in the world's most prestigious design museums, this wooden furniture harbours minimalist lines and is covered with white plastic screen-printed with a black checked pattern. This simply yet meticulous grid delivers a powerful visual impact, becoming the collection's iconic signature. Over the years, Quaderna hasn't lost a drop of its relevance, beauty or modernity. Founded in Florence, back in 1966, avant-garde architecture group Superstudio was honing a radical and iconoclastic architectural, during a turbulent period in the world of design. Their Quaderna conceptual furniture series was designed between 1969 and 1972. Originally named "Misura M", the collection was renamed "Quaderna" and production was launched with Italian creative force Zanotta in 1972. The Quaderna collection immerses us in Superstudio's world of architectural utopia and counter-culture attitudes. At the start of 1969, Superstudio designed the "Istogrammi" [Histograms], also referred to as the "Architects' Tombs". The Histograms were manifested in the form of a catalogue of thirty 3D diagrams, covered with a grid that could be transposed into various scales. This checked pattern creates a neutral surface, a space free of any cultural conditioning. This homogeneous and isotropic surface can be endlessly developed and reworked, and can be used to design objects, furniture, environments, and even architecture. With The Histograms, Superstudio set out to create a new, universal system: A "unique design" that was infinitely adaptable, breaking away from any previous convention or concepts of design and architecture. "An infinite grid in which everyone and everything can live (and die) without being physically or spiritually consumed" (Superstudio), the Histograms stir up the notion of immutability and the "quest for an inalterable image" of nature. The Histograms are a new mental process, freed from models and imitations. This "infinite grid" can fit in anywhere: Territories, furniture pieces, architecture, cities, in an "absolute clarification of the typologies of classicism". Architecture is nothing more than a mental diagram, a grid with neither start nor end. The Histograms represent both the ultimate efficacy of the system and its negation: By becoming the module for all possible functions and uses, they actually invalidate the need to invent new forms and create new needs. Therefore, this grid on a white background, paradoxically becomes an expression of pure liberty. In 1972, for the "Invention of the Neutral Surface" exhibition, Superstudio collaborated with the company AbetPrint to develop a white plastic laminate printed with their famous orthogonal grid, composed of black squares measuring 3 x 3 cm. The group used this new material to create an entire furniture collection, christened "Misura M Series": Minimalist wooden volumes, displaying great simplicity and rigour, covered with this checked plastic laminate. The simple shapes enhance the geometric grid, entirely covering the surfaces. The group initially tried to produce its furniture itself, calling on the services of local artisans and retailers. It was a failure: Nobody believed in their project. In the end, it was Aurelio Zanotta who truly saw the potential in it, and who accepted to produce this furniture, under the new name "Quaderna". The essentially theoretical reflection of radical architecture was thus transformed into a real product. Aurelio Zanotta decided to exhibit this new furniture in Paris in 1972: To mark the occasion, all of the employees working on the trade show stand wore jackets emblazoned with the famous checked pattern! The Quaderna collection is the result of a process that is simultaneously industrial and highly artisanal. Whilst the grid is created by digital printing, the pieces of plastic laminate are individually applied by hand, in an extremely precise sequence in order to ensure that all of the lines match up (it takes approximately 8 hours to create a single piece). The perfect convergence of the grid's lines determine the perfect homogeneity of the surfaces, creating a strong aesthetic for the furniture. Superstudio: "We've prepared a catalogue of non-continuous 3D diagrams, a catalogue of architectural histograms that reference a grid that can be transposed into sectors or into various scales to edify a tranquil and immobile nature, in which we can finally find our likenesses. Based on the histogram catalogue, we have been able to easily create objects, furniture, environments, architecture…"

In detail:

• Variation : White/Black Checked Pattern

• Brand : Zanotta

• Designer : Superstudio

• Type : Wall mirror

• Colour : Black grid on white background

• Material : Glass measuring 5mm in thickness - Honeycomb panel frame, hand-covered with printed white plastic laminate, digitally printed with a black grid pattern with a centre distance of 3cm -

• Dimensions : L 51 x H 195 cm - Thickness 15 cm
• Weight : 91.96 lb
• Characteristics : The mirror is stood on the floor and attached to the wall - A design icon - Project year: 1969–72 - Gold Medal at the M.I.A. International Exhibition 1971 - Collection: Israel Museum (Jerusalem), Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Cologne), Kunstgewerbemuseum (Berlin), Kunstmuseum (Düsseldorf), Denver Art Museum, Fondazione Triennale Design Museum (Milan), Musée National d'Art Moderne (Paris), The Museum of Modern Art (New York) - Hand-crafted: Plastic laminate decoration hand-applied to ensure all of the lines match up
• Country of Manufacture : Italy