What is the history of Kartell?

The history of Kartell starts with an Italian chemical engineer named Giulio Castelli and his wife, Anna Ferrieri. The couple founded Kartell in Milan as an industrial design firm, producing utilitarian items like ski racks for automobiles and laboratory equipment designed to replace breakable glass with sturdy plastic. Even as companies like Olivetti and Vespa were making Italian design popular in the 1950s, typewriters and scooters were relatively costly, and Castelli and Ferrieri wanted to provide Italian consumers with affordable, stylish goods. They launched a housewares division of Kartell in 1953, making lighting fixtures and kitchen tools and accessories from colorful molded plastic. Buoyed by its success in the home goods market, Kartell introduced its Habitat division in 1963. Kartell achieved international recognition for its innovative work in 1972, when a landmark exhibition curated by Emilio Ambasz called "Italy: The New Domestic Landscape" opened at New York's Museum of Modern Art. Castelli and Ferrieri sold Kartell to Claudio Luti, their son-in-law, in 1988, and since then, Luti has expanded the company's roster of designers. On 1stDibs, explore a large selection of Kartell furniture.