Achille Castiglioni Quark desk BBB Bonacina Italy 1982

Very nice post-modern ‘Quark’ desk designed by Achille Castiglioni and manufactured by BBB Bonacina, Italy 1982. The Quark series included multiple desks designed as a modular system. The desks have a consistent structure and customers could customize the side parts and cabinets according to their preferences. These desks are made of beech wood painted in black. Each desk has containers on both sides each equipped with three drawers. On the back of these containers, there is an open space suitable for placing items like books. The frame of the desk is made of a sturdy triangular wooden structure featuring an angled plywood rib on the inner side. This design not only makes the desk strong but also gives it an iconic and recognizable shape. In good condition with normal surface wear.

The collaboration with BBB Bonancina began with the Tric chair and continued to explore the idea of collapsible furniture also for the Trac table that in fact incorporates the structural characteristics of the Tric chair, but in his case, Achille Castiglioni decides to solve eventual instability problems of the legs. Inserting a triangular wooden structure with a plywood rib on one side and a strut on the other. After that the Quark series was born.

Literature; Domus 100 oggetti di produzione contemporanea Tavoli 1985.

Achille Castiglioni was born in Milan on February 16th 1918, in 1944 he graduated in Architecture from Politecnico of Milan. Since 1940, he has been experimenting industrial products with his brothers Livio (1911-1979) and Pier Giacomo (1913-1968). After the graduation, he started to looking into forms, techniques and new materials, conceiving a complete design process. From 1945 to 1962, he leaded the studio’s activities with his brother Pier Giacomo in a studio in Milan at Corso di Porta Nuova 57, the building was knocked down in 1962, so they transferred the studio in P.zza Castello 27, where he collaborated with Pier Giacomo until he died in 1968. From 1968 to 2002, when Achille died, he has been leading the studio by himself. He achieved  in 1969 the teaching qualification on “Artistic Design for Industry” from the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione (Ministry of Public Education) and he taught at Turin Architecture University until 1980. Afterwards he acquired the teaching post in Politecnico of Milan until 1993 as fulltime “Industrial Design” professor.