Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Scottish architect with the deep-set eyes, was the leading light of the Glasgow school at the turn of the last century.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Mackintosh knew how to formulate new language through the integration of indigenous culture with symbolism, neo-Gothic, Art Nouveau, and Liberty. He managed to maintain strong figurative symbolic values even in the process of simplification and geometric reform called for by industrial and mechanistic culture.

The University of Glasgow, the sole trustee of Mackintosh's artistic production, has granted Cassina exclusive use of this heritage through a world license for the production of Mackintosh furniture.