Kartell's Componibili: The Storage Column That Went Universal
Few design objects are as familiar as the Componibili. This small cylindrical column in glossy plastic, made of stackable modules that open with a rounded sliding door, stands in a great many bathrooms, bedrooms and offices. Designed by the architect and designer Anna Castelli Ferrieri for Kartell in the late 1960s, it sits in museum collections while remaining an everyday object.
An architect in the service of industry
Trained as an architect, Anna Castelli Ferrieri thought of furniture in terms of system, production and assembly. A co-founder of Kartell, she did much to bring plastic into the company's furniture. The Componibili, shown in the late 1960s, is the fruit of this engineer's approach as much as a designer's.
The name sums up the project: "componibili" means "combinable" or "assemblable" in Italian. The Componibili is an open system rather than a finished piece of furniture: identical elements freely stacked to reach the height you want. Storage becomes a matter of combination rather than fixed model.
Modularity without screws
The principle is simple. Each module is a hollow cylinder fitted with a curved sliding door that follows the roundness of the body. The modules interlock one on top of another through an integrated form of assembly, without screws or dowels: you stack, you clip, you get a column of two, three or four levels depending on need and space.
The cylindrical form has its reasons. It eliminates dead corners, slips into a corner as easily as the middle of a room, and gives the object a soft presence, without an aggressive edge. The curved sliding door, rather than a hinged one, saves space in front of the unit. It is an object conceived for small interiors as much as large ones.
ABS, then today's materials
The Componibili was one of the first modular plastic furniture pieces of its kind. Originally, it was injection-moulded in ABS, the technical plastic that was bringing furniture into the industrial age. This material allowed serial production, bright glossy colours, and a lightness that changed one's relationship with furniture.
Over the decades, Kartell evolved the material. As part of its environmental approach, the maker notably developed versions of the Componibili produced from renewable-origin materials, while keeping the original cylindrical form and modular logic. The design itself has not changed in more than half a century.
Buying a Componibili: old or recent
Since the Componibili is produced continuously, the vintage market sits alongside new production still available. This continuity has a consequence: an authentic old piece and a recent piece share the same design but differ in material, colours and marking.
For a vintage piece, the first reference point is the moulded Kartell marking, generally present under the base or inside a module. The second is the condition of the plastic: old ABS can yellow, lose its gloss, scratch; period colours sometimes have a particular tone, harder to find in current production. The third is the smooth sliding of the doors and the clean interlocking of the modules. The many generic copies often give themselves away with duller plastic, approximate assembly and the absence of any marking.
Living with a Componibili today
The ubiquity of the Componibili could make you forget the quality of its design. Yet it is a very well-judged design: useful in almost every room, restrained, compact and durable. An older piece in a period colour also carries a history that new production lacks. The slight yellowing of the ABS and loss of gloss are normal marks of age; it is cracks and warped doors that need watching.
What we check
When a Componibili comes through LAPIERRE MARKET, we examine the plastic in natural light (surface, gloss, yellowing, cracks), the sliding of the doors, the interlocking of the modules and the stability of the column, then read the moulded marking. Cleaning is done without harsh solvents. The listing states the model, the estimated production period and the condition of the plastic. See our Kartell selection.
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LAPIERRE MARKET
