Anonima Castelli. Objects, Design and Cultural Heritage

Anonima Castelli’s historical archive is an interesting resource for studying the industrial production of furniture in Italy between the 1950s and the 1980s. This article aims to illustrate a preliminary study for a research project dedicated to the archive and the historical production of the Castelli company. The drafting of the research hypotheses was preceded by a few educational experiences carried out as part of the Degree Course in Design at the University of Ferrara, organised in collaboration with the company; these experiences confirmed how worthwhile these archival sources were for inspiring the creative process. The thesis asserted here is that, as well as historicising the phenomenon of Italian design based on documentary sources, company archives are also able to encourage the revival of production processes with the aim of re-issuing the objects present in historical catalogues. This way, the original project designs become documents that are useful both for historians and for designers and entrepreneurs interested in making these “memories” operational again.