Kartell was founded in Milan in 1949 by Giulio Castelli, a chemical engineer who trained under Nobel Prize winner Giulio Natta, and his wife Anna Castelli Ferrieri, an architect who graduated from the Politecnico di Milano. It was she who would later come up with the brand’s name and logo. At its inception, the company initially focused on automotive and home accessories before turning its attention to a material then considered revolutionary: plastic.

In postwar Italy, Giulio and Anna Castelli Ferrieri had a clear ambition: to reinvent everyday life through industrial innovation. Kartell quickly became a laboratory for experimentation with plastics, exploring their aesthetic and functional properties far beyond their mere practicality. This constant exploration of color, transparency, lightness, and durability would become the brand’s signature.

In 1963, Kartell expanded its business into furniture, home decor, and interior design, driven by Anna Castelli Ferrieri. The very next year, the brand launched its first chair, the “4999,” designed for children by Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper. This marked the beginning of a long series of designs that would go on to become iconic: Joe Colombo’s “4801” chair, the “Universale” stackable chair, and the injection-molded “4867,” which firmly established Kartell on the international stage.

In 1988, Claudio Luti—Giulio Castelli’s son-in-law and a veteran of the fashion world at Versace—took over as CEO of the company. Under his leadership, Kartell forged numerous collaborations with the biggest names in international design: Philippe Starck, Ron Arad, Antonio Citterio, Patricia Urquiola, Piero Lissoni, Ferruccio Laviani, and Eugeni Quitllet. This period gave rise to pieces that have become true contemporary classics, such as Philippe Starck’s Louis Ghost chair—one of the world’s best-selling chairs— the Bookworm modular bookshelf designed by Ron Arad, and the Bourgie lamp by Ferruccio Laviani.

Several Kartell creations are now part of the collections of prestigious museums, including New York’s MoMA. In 1999, the brand opened its own museum near Milan, dedicated to preserving and showcasing its history and design heritage.

Still led by Claudio Luti, Kartell remains one of the symbols of “Made in Italy” in the world of design. True to its founding DNA, the company continues its research into materials and technologies, balancing functionality, color, and bold aesthetics, while continuing to collaborate with the most prominent designers of its generation.