Agapecasa reissues the “Club 44” table designed in 1957 by Angelo Mangiarotti
This striking architectural piece of furniture, designed by the Maestro with Bruno Morassuti as a unique piece for the Club 44 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, is now manufactured for the first time.
Agapecasa,Ā the brand created by Agape to reissue the original designs ofĀ Angelo Mangiarotti, introduces theĀ Club 44 tableĀ to the collection.
The table wasĀ custom-made in 1957Ā as part of a total renovation of theĀ Club 44 cultural centerĀ in the watchmaking capital ofĀ La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland. Curated by Angelo Mangiarotti and Bruno Morassutti, the redesign of the center focused on an interplay of intriguing perspectives and geometries.
Other furnishings were also designed for the occasion, including an interlocking model of auditorium seats, today part of Agapecasaās Mangiarotti Collection in a single version. The Club 44 table is a modern yet timeless piece, a vivid evocation of the culture of good design embodied by one of the most intriguing and multifaceted 20th-century Italian masters of architecture and design. Today, it is beingĀ put into production for the first time.
Until now, only a few of these tables existed, specifically made for the bar, foyer and stage of the Swiss club auditorium and still visible in the cultural center. Adapting it for mass production as part of the Agapecasa collection required careful experimentation with materials and construction tools, so as to preserve its original character.
Modularity and Poetry
Its defining characteristics are itsĀ modularity and strongly architectural three-piece design, which gives each element space to express its own poetic character: the truncated conical supports, originally in beola stone and now in concrete, the graphical surface of the top, and the elegant, technical double-cross T-section steel frame cut at 45Ā° that both unites and distances them.
Forms and Dimensions
There is an elegance and sculptural beauty to the dialogue between the material solidity of the base and the simplicity of the top in its numerous variations and finishes, creating a diverse family united around the central feature of the base. The top is available inĀ four shapes – square, elliptical, round, and rectangularĀ – reaching dimensions of up to 100x300cm in the version with two supports.
Materials and Finishes
Any material must be thoroughly explored, discovering its strengths and weaknesses, in order to build a design based around its qualities. The Club 44 table is characterized by a short list of carefully chosen materials: concrete for the base, steel for the cross-shaped frame, glass and wood for the top. In contrast, there are numerous finishes available for the 30mm birch plywood top with exposed edges, with three shades of Slovenian oak or seven variants of Forbo natural linoleum.
The table builds a deep connection with the space, recalling several elements of Club 44 by echoing the metal used in the structure of the auditoriumās balconies. Design was a way of being forĀ Angelo Mangiarotti, who considered objects, architecture, and works of art to all be parts of a dynamic and open unified whole.
