Color and imagination, but also an excellent technical mastery of the materials: with these weapons, Kartell has managed to make the most of a traditionally economical material such as plastic, creating products with a high design content perfect even for the  most luxurious homes. Founded in 1949 by the chemical engineer Giulio Castelli, Kartell started its production with small high-level design objects, developing over time on increasingly consistent sizes and shapes, thus arriving to offer colorful and functional furnishing accessories with affordable prices to everyone.

Recognized the high potential of plastic materials and thanks to the fruitful collaboration with the architect Gino Colombini, in the following years Castelli was able to undertake a long series of experiments that led to the conquest of the first Compasso d’Oro in 1955. In those same years the lighting division was inaugurated with the first collection signed by the Castiglioni brothers.