Gastone Rinaldi

Gastone Rinaldi (1920-2006) was a designer and industrialist who accompanied the development of Italian design from its pioneering artisan phase to the most accomplished industrial one. He did it at the helm of his company, the Paduan RIMA, inherited from his father in 1948 after a youth activity as a good level footballer (so much so that he even got to tread the fields of the Serie B championship). Specializing in seats with a metal base, Rinaldi's RIMA established itself as one of the most successful companies in the sector and imposed its own style characterized by shells with gentle curves and a typically Mid-Century taste. His most successful period was the 1950s, when he won a Compasso d'Oro (1954) and a Silver Medal at the Triennale (1957) and established close relationships with some post-war masters such as Gio Ponti and Marco Zanuso. In the 1970s he will leave RIMA due to internal conflicts and will go on to found another company, Thema, then closed at the end of the following decade. Some of his creations are now re-proposed by Poltrona Frau and Tacchini.