Iconic design bookcases: the models that made history

1938 – Veliero – Franco Albini

The “Veliero” bookcase is one of the most significant works by Franco Albini, a well-known Italian architect and designer. Designed in 1938 and created solely for his Milanese home in 1940, it represents a true design experiment, a visionary work of suspended architecture, a project in which lightness and balance come together.
It is a tensile structure that recalls the image of a sailing vessel, made up of two ash wood rods, steel tie rods and suspended glass shelves. The precarious balance and essentiality of the constituent elements defy the laws of physics, creating the illusion that the books are floating in space.
Only in 2011, Cassina brought this extraordinary work to the attention of the public, including it in the “I Maestri” collection, a selection of the most emblematic works of the Modern Movement. This collection brings together creations considered essential points of reference for contemporary design.

1946 – Red Cloud – Vico Magistretti

A project by Vico Magistretti begun in 1946, the result of a long study of the constituent elements that led to the creation of this icon with an essential design.
With its folding structure, once closed, it resembles a ladder.
The diagonals, load-bearing support elements for the shelves, allow the traditional lateral sides to be eliminated, giving lightness and solidity at the same time.
With its elegant, primary and timeless aesthetic, this creation stands out for the formal clarity and simplicity of the lines, making it an undisputed icon of design since 1977. Produced by Cassina starting from that year, it is still in production today.

1958 – LB7 – Franco Albini

Iconic ceiling bookcase designed by Franco Albini and produced by Poggi starting from the late 1950s.
Model ‘LB7’, designed with a refined and functional design, can also be positioned in the center of a room, becoming an elegant elementnto divider to separate rooms with lightness and visual transparency.
The bookcase is made up of two bays with solid teak wood uprights, pressure-fixed between the ceiling and floor, without the need for permanent anchoring. The shelves with hinged doors and flap opening and the containers are adjustable in height, offering great versatility of use and offering a practical solution for organizing the space.
A perfect balance between functionality and aesthetic purity, which confirms Albini’s innovative vision in reinterpreting the idea of ??modular and light furniture.

1976 – GLASS SHELVES – SHIRO KURAMATA

Designed in 1976 by the great master Shiro Kuramata, Glass Shelves is a bookcase made entirely of 12 mm transparent glass, heat-sealed without the support of any wooden or metal element.
A true masterpiece of essentiality, where the purity of the material meets technical perfection, giving life to a reference icon in international design.
Its extraordinary visual lightness is combined with a formal cleanliness, enhanced by harmonious proportions.
More than a simple furnishing accessory, Glass Shelves is a statement of minimal and refined style, in which the transparency of the crystal cancels the physical presence to leave room for the pure essence of the design. A work that continues to inspire for its ability to blend simplicity, innovation and lightness.

1981 – CARLTON – SOTTSASS

Carlton is a true icon of postmodern design, designed by Ettore Sottsass in 1981 for the Memphis Group, a collective he himself founded in the same year. The name Memphis appears to be inspired by Bob Dylan’s song “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again”.
The Memphis Group aimed to revolutionize the traditional concept of design, transgressing the rules of traditional design of the period with an irreverent and conscious spirit.
Rooted in the pop culture of the time, the movement aimed to create colorful, fun and unconventional objects, challenging the rigidity of functionalism and embracing the expressive freedom typical of postmodernism.
Among the group’s most famous creations, Carlton stands out, a bookcase with a vaguely anthropomorphic shape, capable of also transforming itself into a spectacular dividing wall. Designed with a combination of simple geometric shapes, bright colors and innovative materials, Carlton fully represents the Memphis philosophy: breaking conventions and introducing a touch of poetry and vitality into everyday life.
The structure is made of plastic laminate wood, a dot-like pattern created by Sottsass himself, which recalls moving bacteria. The use of plastic laminate, at the time considered a cheap and not very noble material, takes on a symbolic value in Carlton: Sottsass wanted to demonstrate that even commonly used materials can give life to objects of extraordinary aesthetic refinement.
With its bold and unconventional aesthetic, Carlton has become a timeless symbol of contemporary design, embodying the revolutionary spirit of the Memphis Group and the visionary approach of Ettore Sottsass.

2003 – PTOLOMEO – RAINALDI

Original Ptolomeo, designed by Bruno Rainaldi in 2003, won the prestigious Compasso d’Oro in 2004, immediately establishing itself as an icon of contemporary designor.
The name is a tribute to Ptolemy I, promoter of the legendary Royal Library of Alexandria in Egypt, a symbol of knowledge and culture.
It is an essential and revolutionary self-standing bookcase, capable of adapting to any environment thanks to its different finishes, which range from matt black to glossy white, from stainless steel to the matt corten effect.
The structure appears as a simple column, interspersed with thin steel shelves: an ingenious design in which the entire structure visually disappears as the column fills with books, transforming into a sculpture of suspended volumes.
It rests on a solid steel base coordinated with the structure which gives it maximum stability. It is available in three different heights, to meet different space and style needs.
Minimal and slender, it takes up little space but captures the eye with its scenographic presence.
On the occasion of the Salone del Mobile 2024, to celebrate twenty years of the Compasso d’Oro, a Limited Edition was presented which faithfully reproduces the original project with which Bruno Rainaldi won the award. In this special edition, the column and shelves return to being made of black railway sheet metal, recalling the material essence and industrial character of the initial design.

2004 – CLOUD – RONAN And ERWAN BOUROULLEC

Cloud, created by brothers Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec in 2004, is a bookcase that stands out for its organic and unconventional shape, inspired by the lightness of a cloud and the suggestions of Pop Art. Eccentric and extravagant, it immediately becomes the protagonist furnishing element in any environment it is inserted in, catching the eye with its fluid and dynamic silhouette.
Made of white polyethylene using rotational molding technology, Cloud is a double-sided bookcase, designed to offer maximum versatility both as a wall element and as a self-supporting divider. Its configuration is completely customizable: the modules can be interconnected as desired via a retractable joint, allowing you to create tailor-made compositions that recall the structure of a beehive, in a perfect balance between functionality and sculptural design.
A contemporary icon that challenges conventions, transforming the bookcase from a simple container to a true modular work of art.

2004 – INFINITY – ANTONIO CITTERIO

Infinity, designed by architect Antonio Citterio, is a modular, stackable system that offers infinite compositional possibilities. Made up of closed or open modules, with enamelled metal finishes, each element is joined to the others by an invisible screw, creating personalized configurations that give life to an elegant play of full and empty volumes,
Elegant and essential, Infinity stands out for its free-standing structure, light but at the same time imposing. Infinitely accessorisable, it can be enriched with refined leather storage boxes, equipped with practical side handles that make them easily removable from the shelf.
The dynamic overlapping of the modules and the refined contrast between the metal and the leather, available in different colours, give great flexibility to the project. This combination of materials and volumes has contributed to the success of Infinity, today considered a true masterpiece of contemporary design.

2005 – RANDOM -NEULAND Industrledesign

Designed in 2005 by the Munich studio Neuland Industriedesign for the Italian company MDF Italia, the RANDOM bookcase represents an icon of contemporary design. The Neuland Industriedesign studio is made up of a team of young creatives with degrees in Design, focused on product development with a philosophy based on the idea that design is a process of discovery, capable of revealing the essence of an object. Each creation has its own identity. With this vision RANDOM was born: “the bookshop where every book finds its true place”. It is a modular bookcase, perfect both as a single element for furnishing small spaces and in larger compositions, placing modules of different color variations side by side to create solutions with great visual impact.
RANDOM is made up of numerous compartments of different sizes, arranged in an apparently random manner on various levels. Its asymmetrical and dynamic design allows it to contain books, CDs and objects, highlighting them in a scenographic way. In addition to its storage function, RANDOM decorates the wall in an expressive way: books and objects become part of a real artistic composition. It is possible to organize the elements by color or format, obtaining a strong aesthetic effect. The bookcase adapts harmoniously to any context and living style, from the most classic to the most modern, giving each environment a strong personality. Over the years, RANDOM has become an icon of the MDF Italia collection, expanding its range and confirming itself as a symbol of versatility and innovation in the world of design.

2017 – METRIC – CTRLZAK

The Metrica bookcase was designed in 2017 by the Milanese design studio CtrlZak, an interdisciplinary artistic collective that embraces the philosophy “form follows meaning”. Made for the furniture brand Mogg, Metrica stands out for its innovative, particular and refined design.
Entirely made of metal and available in different color finishes, it is enriched by elegant glass shelves, which give a light but high-impact visual effect. The structure, linear and essential, is at the same time eccentric thanks to the play of solids and voids created by the metal tubing and the transparencies of the glass.
Versatile and functional, this bookcase adapts perfectly to any environment, both residential and contract. Furthermore, by composing multiple modules, it can be transformed into an original dividing element or screen, ideal for organizing spaces in a creative and contemporary way.