Downtown Design
redazione 1/07/2025

Signature craftsmanship

Cassina explores artisanal techniques and processes to create new furnishings that enhance the natural charm of the material

Two interpretations of the most authentic craftsmanship give rise to a design narrative that celebrates the excellence of noble materials. For the 2025 collection, Cassina explores the relationship between tradition and innovation with a series of furniture and accessories that combine creative rigor and sophisticated experimentation. At the heart of the proposal is an approach that focuses on the craftsmanship of workmanship refined workmanship and details that tell the story of attention to detail. Cassina renews the vision of design as an expression of material and manufacturing culture with a collection that reflects its identity in the name of quality and imagination.

FF. Spine by Cassina, design Formafantasma –
Photo © Luca Merli

Fluid Joinery – Side Table I by Cassina, design Linde Freya Tangelder –
Photo © Luca Merli

An integral part of this philosophy is the new FF. Spine bookcase, a true tribute to the beauty of natural wood. Signed by Formafantasma, who worked closely with Cassina’s carpentry shop, the bookcase is based on a sober design and a linear form with a strong geometric virtuosity, the result of high cabinetmaking. FF. Spine is in fact characterized by a multitude of solid wood modules, heterogeneous in the grain and cuts of the wood, which are combined to maximize each single part of a trunk and enhance the quality of the wood. It is composed of a few elements joined together: a support bracket fixed to an upright that supports a shelf. Not only the compositions, but also the finishes have been designed to enhance the raw material, with equally artisanal processes: two natural versions, in ash and Canaletto walnut combined with each other , or in two different Canaletto walnut finishes, and in three colors that allow the texture of the wood to show through to give value to the grain. In this case, the colors red, blue and green are applied manually with a rag on the ash, while the brackets, in the same finish, are given a more intense ton-sur-ton effect through an additional spray coat.

Fluid Joinery – Side Table I by Cassina, design Linde Freya Tangelder –
Photo © Simone Barberis

Fluid Joinery – Side Table I by Cassina, design Linde Freya Tangelder – Photo © Luca Merli

Its expressions are multiple – self-supporting double-sided to be placed in the center of the room, with the base on the ground and wall fixing, and suspended with wall fixing: a versatility and a measured design that allows it to enter any room. In terms of artisanal exploration of materials, Cassina collaborates with Linde Freya Tangelder to explore the charm of blown glass. The designer signs the Fluid Joinery – Side Table I, more sculptures than furnishings for modern interior scenographies: these are monolithic tables made in a single volume of mouth-blown glass inside a cast iron mold to obtain an organic shape with variable thicknesses and engraved surfaces, in an extremely complex artisanal process performed in Veneto. Available in three shades – smoked, amber and blue – each piece is unique thanks to variations in volumes and surfaces, which generate plays of light and reflections. The heart of the project is in fact the transparency investigated through the material and irregular shapes, surprising effects made even more fascinating in the combination of several elements placed side by side.

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