Company
History
Simon has always had a strong instantly recognisable identity in the design world both in Italy and abroad. Thanks to the unique input of its founder Dino Gavina, the man who came up with the idea for the company in 1968. Already in the early fifties he had begun working with designers and architects– such as Luigi Caccia Dominioni, Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni, Ignazio Gardella, Carlo and Tobia Scarpa, Kazuhide Takahama and Marco Zanuso– and in 1960 he founded a company in his own name, with Carlo Scarpa as its president.
[…] Whilst on the one hand Gavina followed carefully the advanced design research his artists were drawn to– which in the sixties meant heading increasingly towards a critical response to functionalist design–; on the other hand he could not ignore the many stimuli resulting from this artistic creativity.
Somewhere in the middle of this dual tension, doubtlessly also influenced by these experiences, came Simon and its collections Ultrarazionale (1968), Ultramobile (1971) and Metamobile (1974), which acted as progressive testing pieces, experimenting and exploring in every possible way.
Ultrarazionale was a collection of “sculptural” works designed by Scarpa (such as his monumental tables Doge, Valmarana and Delfi), which were the result of carefully chosen materials, combined with well planned attention to detail and execution. At the same time these were substantially still within the confines of a non Radical conception, not breaking away from design, but rather, proposing a complexity of language which offered a solid alternative to a certain type of mannered Rationalism.
A few years later Ultramobile’s “functional works of art” aimed to create a dialogue between artistic research and manufacturing for the home, achieving inspired eye-catching results. The pieces drew on poetic surrealist inspiration to create furniture -cum- works of art with a strong symbolic presence, paying homage to artists like René Magritte, Constantin Brancusi, Man Ray, Sebastian Matta and Meret Oppenheim. Matta’s pop chairs, Man Ray’s mirror Les grands trans-Parents or Oppenheim’s golden birdfoot table all caught the imagination of the critics, as well as, somewhat unexpectedly, gaining ground in the marketplace.
Ultramobile started a trend which, even today, is still right up to date, by exploring “other” directions with the aim of widening territories normally pushed to one side by design culture, at the same time enriching that very same culture, freeing it from the narrow confines imposed on it by cultural models, methods of production and market demands.
Finally came Metamobile which offered straightforward sets of low cost furniture, pieces which could be assembled at home. Like the designs by Enzo Mari – provocative emblems of the whole collection– for ready to assemble furniture parts, a challenge to the rules of marketing and distribution.
From its past right up until this current day Simon has many elements of great interest and vitality, both in its “content” and its actual meaning, all of which are coloured by the choices that were taken in terms of both business and culture; what is more, it hosts a collection of designs and products which have explored many innovative routes, whilst at the same time making their marks as true design icons, with critics and members of the public alike.
Alberto Bassi
Design Historian and Critic