Cassina has always been associated with elegant and modern furniture. Founded by Cesare and Umberto Cassina in Meda in 1927, the renowned Italian brand is known for its pioneering design and focus on research and innovation. The luxury furniture maker often turned to leading architects and designers of the day to envision new designs and imagine new ways of living, while honoring the past — a tradition Cassina still follows to this day.

To celebrate the revered furniture maker’s first 90 years of activity, a new monograph, “This Will Be the Place,” has been released. Edited by Felix Burrichter in collaboration with Cassina and published by Rizzoli New York, the 352-page book chronicles Cassina’s first nine decades of bringing the past, present and future of design into harmony.

According to Barbara Lehmann (who penned the introduction), Cassina’s furniture creations and design collaborations are forward-looking “expressions of a lifestyle” and “tools used to seek new ways of living.” For example, the collaboration with Gio Ponti offered up a new narrative for Modernism and the “Italian home.” Even the 1964 Cassina I Maestri Collection — an acquisition to serially produce four models designed by modern master Le Corbusier who was still alive at the time — was an acknowledgement that “there can be no future without a knowledge of the past.” The main point: “Cassina was always at the forefront in the quest to assimilate the modernity in Italian style,” writes Lehmann.

To help explore these concepts of living, the pioneering book is divided into two sections.

The first part examines questions of evolving tastes and dynamics of contemporary lifestyles around the globe, as defined by leading figures from the international design world, including Arno Brandlhuber, Beatriz Colomina, Konstantin Grcic, Zhao Yang, and Martti Kalliala. They propose five distinct types of interiors of the future, each differentiated by style, material, and geographic area of origin.

The second part of the book takes a more visual approach. The five different building types are presented through a photographic panorama realized on site in various locations such as Spain, Sicily and Lake Como. These different living environments — “Artful Living,” “Free Flow,” “Back to the Roots,” “Bedtime,” and “Playground” — are, of course, furnished throughout with beautiful pieces from Cassina.

Free Flow

Rooms with no hurdles in a space without bounds.

“Space is defined by temporal or temporary provisions …. And through its furnishing, it can take on various functions at the same time.” — Arno Brandlhuber

Artful Living

A symphonic utopia where life imitates art.

“Liberated from a pledge to utility, these spaces surpass the beauty of any abode of today.”— Martti Kalliala

Playground

A new domesticity exercises its grip.

“Objects shouldn’t be so fixed, because the spaces in which we live no longer are either.”  — Arno Brandlhuber

Back To The Roots

Return to the senses, abound in one’s nest.

“Luckily the root of this culture is just too stubborn to be destroyed. It’s very profound, and still exists in the subconscious of most people brought up in this culture.” — Zhao Yang

Bed Time

One plane, three dimensions, all day and all night.

“The bed is not just an instrument designed for relaxation—it’s a place where things are produced, invented, planned. A fluid and dynamic dimension, like a film set, where we become the protagonists and interpreters of contemporary life.”