A revolutionary architect, an innovative mind, and a design legacy that elevates simplicity in form and a modern functional ethos to groundbreaking summits that resonate still today, Le Corbusier is a celebrated icon of modernity, with clean designs that pepper cleverly curated homes with a balance of sophistication and curiosity. This April we mark the 60th anniversary of his furniture line introduced to the world through Cassina, and the 100th anniversary of his manifesto and cornerstone for modern architecture, Vers Une Architecture as honored through events and exhibitions across the globe. In a celebration of the life of this inimitable pioneer and the imprint his novel designs left on the annals of history, we also gaze toward the future to the many ways his modern design principles meld with the world of contemporary design, the human-made in conversation with the natural, riveting and enduring.
As part of Milan Design Week, Cassina unveiled Staging Modernity—a bold theatrical performance and installation created by the acclaimed studio Formafantasma. The event marks the opening of the 60th-anniversary celebration of the iconic Le Corbusier®, Pierre Jeanneret®, and Charlotte Perriand® Collection. Through live performances directed by Fabio Cherstich, Cassina invites audiences to reexamine the relationship between modernist ideals and the complexities of today’s world.
Staging Modernity challenges the binaries that have long shaped modern design—rationality versus organic forms, human versus non-human perspectives. With a set designed to immerse visitors in a thought-provoking environment, professional actors bring to life new narratives inspired by texts from philosopher Emanuele Coccia, architect Andrés Jaque, and artist Feifei Zhou. The result is a multisensory dialogue between design, performance, and philosophy.
In 1965, the first four trailblazing furniture models from Le Corbusier’s studio were brought out of smaller, artisanal production into the mass market with the help of Cassina and a unique reissuing process set in place while Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and Charlotte Perriand were still alive. In honor of this visionary milestone, Cassina celebrates the 60th anniversary of this iconic furniture line, expanded and updated over the years in collaboration with the Le Corbusier Foundation and the heirs of Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Jeanneret, with a relaunch of the first four pieces - the 1 Fauteuil dossier basculant small armchair, the 2 Fauteuil Grand Confort, petit modèle and 3 Fauteuil Grand Confort, grand modèle armchairs and the 4 Chaise longue à réglage continu – in new and exciting colors, including red, blue, and green glossy frames with ton sur ton mohair velvet armchairs available from now until September 2026. The pieces are emotionally and visually provocative, translating the timeless ethos of Le Corbusier’s functional furnishings to a contemporary palette. Earlier this month, Cassina also paid tribute to the avant-garde legacy of Le Corbusier and Cassina with an artistic installation and theatrical production staged by design studio Formafantasma, who invited guests to reflect on the dissonance between modernist ideals and the contemporary world with a fragmented presentation of Le Corbusier, Jeannerret, and Perriand’s work, making sense of how the industrial and rational principles of modernity square with the wild, natural ecology of the contemporary moment. Here Le Corbusier’s modernism is interpreted through a new lens, one that is not fixed or static, but is in a continually evolving conversation with the present.
Likewise heralding the notable impact of the designer and architect’s unparalleled work, the Pavillon Le Corbusier takes a contemporary look at Le Corbusier’s legacy in an exhibition that celebrates the 100th anniversary of his manifesto and collection of essays from L’Esprit Nouveau called Vers Une Architecture. Later translated as Toward a New Architecture, these writings served somewhat as a bible for proceeding architects and established his style as a leading polemist. On view from April 25th to November 23rd, 2025, this exhibition examines Le Corbusier’s work from a contemporary perspective, using AI to create architectural visions and contemporary international essays that reflect on Le Corbusier concepts in the context of current architectural discourse and future perspectives. Indeed, as we look toward the future of well-designed spaces, we find Le Corbusier’s timeless and enduring attitude of the alluring and sophisticated appeal of simplicity to be relevant still today, even as an interest in the natural and bespoke weave into the industrial rationalism of the past. As threads of tempestuous color and texture lay synchronized with rigorous geometries and clean forms, the contemporary home becomes a symphony of sensible modernity with the artisanal touch of tomorrow, balanced, captivating, and unique.
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April 2025
