Vico Magistretti Plastic
Vintage 1960s Italian Dining Room Sets
Plastic, Fiberglass
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Space Age Desks and Writing Tables
Leather, Plastic, Wood
20th Century Italian Table Lamps
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Armchairs
Plastic
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Sofas
Plastic
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Plastic
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Benches
Chrome
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Plastic
Vintage 1960s Italian Space Age Table Lamps
Plastic
Vintage 1960s Italian Modern Table Lamps
Plastic
Vintage 1980s Italian Modern Table Lamps
Metal
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Steel
Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Chairs
Plastic
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Plastic
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
Vintage 1970s Italian Post-Modern Chairs
Brass, Chrome
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Barware
Steel
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Gold Plate
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Fabric, Wood
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Gold Plate
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Fabric, Wood
20th Century Italian Hollywood Regency Dry Bars
Stainless Steel, Chrome
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Gold Plate, Brass
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Sets
Brass
Late 20th Century Italian Space Age Dining Room Chairs
Plastic
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Space Age Lounge Chairs
Plastic
Vintage 1960s European Bohemian Table Lamps
Plastic
Late 20th Century Dutch Space Age Lounge Chairs
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Space Age Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Plastic
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Space Age Wall Lights and Sconces
Plastic
Vintage 1960s Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Plastic
Vintage 1960s Italian Space Age Sofa Tables
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Lounge Chairs
Steel
Late 20th Century Italian Space Age Armchairs
Plastic
Late 20th Century Italian Post-Modern Loveseats
Steel
Vintage 1960s Italian Space Age Table Lamps
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1970s Italian Dining Room Tables
Plastic
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Steel
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Steel
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Leather, Plastic
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas
Leather, Plastic
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
Plastic
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Plastic
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Vico Magistretti Plastic For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much is a Vico Magistretti Plastic?
Vico Magistretti for sale on 1stDibs
As one of the founding fathers of modern Italian design, prolific architect and industrial designer Ludovico Magistretti (known by his nickname Vico) was guided by his philosophy, “There is no excuse for bad design.” His architectural projects are widely revered, and an ingenious meld of form and function can be found in his stylish and deceptively simple table lamps, sofas, armchairs and other mid-century furnishings.
Born in Milan, Magistretti followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather (both architects) to study architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan. At the outbreak of World War II, he fled to Switzerland, and it was there he met his role model and mentor, renowned humanist architect Ernesto Nathan Rogers. Magistretti was inspired by Rogers’s vision to revive postwar Italy, and they collaborated on several reconstruction projects. Among Magistretti’s first architectural designs is a “poetic” round church, which he created for the QT8, an experimental Milanese neighborhood.
When Magistretti returned to Milan in 1945, he worked at his father’s architectural firm. It wasn’t until the early 1950s that he expanded his talents into design while working with furniture artisans.
In the 1960s, Magistretti began his 30-year working relationship with famed entrepreneur Cesare Cassina of the Cassina furniture manufacturing company. In their design approach, the two men shared a vision of the relationship between modernity and tradition and enjoyed a close bond (Magistretti designed Cassina’s luxurious villa in 1965). However, their friendship was not without contention.
Legend has it that upon seeing the prototype for Magistretti’s Maralunga sofa, Cassina hated it so much that he punched it, breaking the back of the sofa, which crumpled into itself.
“Right, great, it looks perfect to me like that,” an unfazed Magistretti allegedly responded, and the Maralunga’s slumped, adjustable-height backrest was born. Incidentally, the Maralunga sofa won Italy’s Compasso d’Oro award as did his Eclisse lamp for Artemide and his Atollo lamp for Oluce.
Magistretti died in 2006, but his designs live on in galleries, museums and private residences and offices around the world.
Find a range of vintage Vico Magistretti furniture and lighting on 1stDibs.
Materials: Plastic Furniture
Arguably the world’s most ubiquitous man-made material, plastic has impacted nearly every industry. In contemporary spaces, new and vintage plastic furniture is quite popular and its use pairs well with a range of design styles.
From the Italian lighting artisans at Fontana Arte to venturesome Scandinavian modernists such as Verner Panton, who created groundbreaking interiors as much as he did seating — see his revolutionary Panton chair — to contemporary multidisciplinary artists like Faye Toogood, furniture designers have been pushing the boundaries of plastic forever.
When The Graduate's Mr. McGuire proclaimed, “There’s a great future in plastics,” it was more than a laugh line. The iconic quote is an allusion both to society’s reliance on and its love affair with plastic. Before the material became an integral part of our lives — used in everything from clothing to storage to beauty and beyond — people relied on earthly elements for manufacturing, a process as time-consuming as it was costly.
Soon after American inventor John Wesley Hyatt created celluloid, which could mimic luxury products like tortoiseshell and ivory, production hit fever pitch, and the floodgates opened for others to explore plastic’s full potential. The material altered the history of design — mid-century modern legends Charles and Ray Eames, Joe Colombo and Eero Saarinen regularly experimented with plastics in the development of tables and chairs, and today plastic furnishings and decorative objects are seen as often indoors as they are outside.
Find vintage plastic lounge chairs, outdoor furniture, lighting and more on 1stDibs.