100 years of Achille Castiglioni_JOY

To all intents and purposes we can consider Joy the shelf cabinet, the older brother of Basello, from here it takes the inspiration and it is enhanced. Basello, which takes its name from “basel”, a Milanese term that means “step”, was born for the daughter Giovanna who wanted a desk with a thousand drawers, the father instead designed for her an absolutely minimal piece of furniture, two rotating steps that could become so respectively sitting and desk for the little Giovanna!

It was designed by Achille Castiglioni in 1989 to participate in the Creativitalia exhibition set up in Tokyo, in particular for the section dedicated to the design of the Nineties, which was casually subtitled “The joy of Italian design”!
Castiglioni commented: “I did not have too much time, so I thought I would develop something already done. Sometimes things are born this way “.

Starting from the idea of Basello, the steps rotating like a spiral staircase, increase up to seven shelves, each in the shape of inverted L of decreasing heights rotating on a single black steel rod fixed to the first step on the ground to C. It was called “transformist shelf”! By rotating the shelves they can be opened in a spiral or closed with a minimum of 96 cm in width and 30 cm in depth. Joy can be composed like that in many ways, playing with the height using 3,4,5,6,7 steps and opening them according to the need or mood! In addition, the location is really free, can be placed on the wall, in a corner, in the middle of the room to divide two rooms, used as a bookcase, shelving, desk, ladder, seat or as a child’s play! It is a bridge under which to pass, steps from which to jump, shelf from which to hang upside down or to climb up!

And so, as for most of Castiglioni’s production, Joy also applies the interaction rule! The object is not static and accompanies the user’s choices and movements!

Joy shelves are made of MDF with internal steel corner element to give stability, the finish is in ash with embossed scratch-resistant paint in white, black, burgundy and oil colors. It adapts perfectly to all settings, from the most classic to the most contemporary, having a minimal and intelligent design that goes well with everyone!

Joy was awarded Compasso d’Oro in 1991 and is part of a series of collections such as the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, the Fonds National d’Art Contemporain in Paris and the Museum of Art in Indianapolis. It is produced by Zanotta.