Zanotta

Quaderna 756 Dresser plastic material / W 204 x H 54 cm - Superstudio, 1972 / Laminated Mdf plastic

Superstudio's Quaderna collection is recognized as a manifesto of "radical design" from the 60s and 70s. Awarded numerous distinctions and exhibited in the most prestigious museums, this minimalist wood furniture is covered with a white plastic laminate screen-printed with a black grid. This simple, rigorous grid, with its strong visual impact, is the iconic identity of the collection. Quaderna has retained its relevance, beauty and modernity over the years.

Founded in Florence in 1966, the Superstudio group of avant-garde architects claimed a radical, iconoclastic approach to architecture in those years of protest. Their conceptual Quaderna furniture series was designed between 1969 and 1972. Initially called "Misura M", the collection was renamed "Quaderna" and put into production by the Italian publisher Zanotta in 1972.

The Quaderna collection plunges us into the world of Superstudio's architectural utopias and counter-culture. In early 1969, Superstudio conceived the "Istogrammi", also entitled "Architects' Tombs". The Histograms take the form of a catalog of thirty three-dimensional diagrams covered with a Grill that can be transposed to different scales. This grid pattern is a neutral surface, a space free of cultural conditioning. This homogeneous, isotropic surface can be used endlessly to design objects, furniture, environments and architecture. With Les Histogrammes, Superstudio intends to found a new universal system: a ''unique design'' that can be infinitely adapted, outside any convention or idea of design and architecture. An "endless Grill in which everyone can live (and die) without being physically or spiritually consumed" (Superstudio), Histograms refer to the notion of immutability, to "the search for an unalterable image" of Nature. Histograms are a new mental process, free from models or imitations. This "endless Grill" invades everything: territory, furniture objects, architecture, cities, in an "absolute flattening of classicist typologies". Architecture is nothing more than a mental diagram, a Grill without beginning or end. Histograms represent both the ultimate efficiency of the system and its negation: by becoming the Unit for all possible functions and uses, they actually invalidate the need to invent new forms and induce new needs. In this way, the Grill mesh on a White background paradoxically becomes an expression of absolute freedom.

In 1972, for the exhibition "The Invention of the Neutral Surface" (1972), Superstudio collaborated with AbetPrint to design a white plastic laminate on which their famous orthogonal grid of 3 x 3 cm black squares was printed. With this new material, the group created a whole collection of furniture called "Serie Misura M": minimalist, simple and rigorous wooden volumes covered with this gridded plastic laminate. The simple shapes highlight the geometric mesh that runs across the entire surface.

At first, the group tried to produce its furniture itself, relying on local craftsmen and retailers. It was a failure: nobody believed in their project. Eventually, Aurelio Zanotta saw the potential and agreed to produce the furniture, renaming the collection "Quaderna". The essentially theoretical reflection of radical architecture was thus transformed into a real product. Aurelio Zanotta decided to present this new furniture in Paris in 1972: for the occasion, all employees at the trade show booth wore jackets adorned with the famous check pattern!

The Quaderna collection is the result of a process that is both industrial and highly artisanal. While the Grill is produced by digital printing, the pieces of Plastic laminate are individually applied by hand in a precise sequence so that all the lines coincide (it takes around eight hours to make a single piece). The perfect convergence of the grid lines determines the total homogeneity of the surfaces, giving the furniture a strong aesthetic character.

Superstudio: ''We have prepared a catalog of non-continuous three-dimensional diagrams, a catalog of architectural histograms in reference to a network that can be transposed to different sectors or scales for the construction of a serene, motionless Nature in which we can finally recognize ourselves. From the catalog of histograms, we then easily generated objects, furniture, environments, architectures...''

In detail:

• Variation : White / Black check pattern

• Brand : Zanotta

• Designer : Superstudio

• Type : Dresser

• Colour : Black check pattern on white background

• Material : Honeycomb panel structure, hand-covered with Printed laminate in white plastic, digitally printed with a black grid at 3 cm centres - Black laminate interior lining - Tempered glass interior shelves.

• Dimensions : W 204 x D 51 cm x H 54 cm
• Weight : 123.2 lb
• Characteristics : Dresser / Television table - 3 doors - Openings for cables on rear panel - Adjustable interior shelves - Design icon - Project year: 1969-72 - Gold Medal International Exhibition M.I.A. 1971 - Collection: Israel Museum (Jerusalem), Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Köln), Kunstgewerbemuseum (Berlin), Kunstmuseum (Düsseldorf), Denver Art Museum, Fondazione Triennale Design Museum (Milano), Musée National d'Art Moderne (Paris), The Museum of Modern Art (New York) - Handcrafted: decoration in hand-applied laminated plastic to ensure that all lines coincide.
• Country of Manufacture : Italy