Cassina

Designed by Rietveld in 1934, this chair sees the normal legs-seatback sequence replaced by a single sheet of wood in an overturned Z shape. It was also one of the first examples of a cantilevered seat. The dovetail joints, visible on the rear between the seat and the back show off the quality of Cassina carpentry. In addition to the version in natural cherry wood, the chair also comes in natural ash and in a coloured version with an open-pore finish to show off the wood vein, featuring primary colours (red, blue and yellow) and non-colours (black and white) for the horizontal parts and natural ash for the side sections.

Ladderback chair, ashwood frame stained black. Seat upholstered in a special fabric, either lavender and oil green.
The Hill House chair combines figurative and symbolic ideals with a linear geometry, no doubt inspired by the abstract graphics of Japanese design. It is more than a mere chair in that it illustrates Mackintosh’s articulation of space with its high back and rows of horizontal bars, topped with a grid: with slats and straight poles crossed together to create a resistant frame.

The Red and Blue armchair is an iconic model designed by Gerrit T. Rietveld in 1918. It is made with a frame in black dyed beech with blue seat and red backrest in painted plywood. Lines and surfaces are arranged in a vertical-horizontal composition, linked to one another without any joints.
The Black Red and Blue (Zeilmaker version) born from Rietveld’s chromatic experimentation
While researching the origins of the Red and Blue model in collaboration with the Rietveld heirs, it emerged that the key idea of the first prototypes was based on the concept of spatial organisation expressed through the monochrome tones of its elements. The first version was in fact produced in 1918 in completely unpainted wood. In the following years Rietveld proposed various examples, either monochrome or painted in different colours, depending on the requirements of his customers and the interiors for which the chairs were intended. As such, it comes as no surprise to find this 1920s version, presented as part of Cassina’s MutAzioni selection, created for the school teacher Wicher Zeilmaker with a black frame with white ends and a dark green painted seat and backrest. It was Rietveld’s ever-increasing involvement in the De Stijl movement that led him to also use primary colours on this model in 1923, and as such the chair became a veritable manifesto for the emerging neoplastic movement. Initially dubbed Slat chair, Rietveld only gave it the name Red and Blue in the 1950s following its chromatic evolution. The various owners of the different examples used the chair as an abstract-realist sculpture in their interiors and, in some cases, as a simple tool for sitting on, adding cushions to make it more comfortable, just like Cassina offers for the Black Red and Blue today.

Hommage à Pierre Jeanneret

This comfy armchair has the same distinctive aesthetics as the Back-Wing chair designed in 2018. The armchair’s frame, available in six colours, is composed of large solid wood sections which highlight Cassina’s expertise in wood craftsmanship. Like the Back-Wing chair, its ergonomic and enveloping backrest wraps elegantly around the body while the folds on the sides, like small wings, act as armrests, making it particularly comfortable to sink into and with generous proportions. The armchair, with Seat in flexible polyurethane foam and upholstered in both leather and fabric from the Cassina Collections, is elegantly completed with piping that neatly traces and defines the profile of the armchair’s backrest.

A familiar figure on many modern antiques’ and collectors’ sites, Feltri is a summation of thinking about figuration in the hybrid zone where the artistic meets the functional. One of a kind, this piece stands out for its enormous flexibility and for the fact that the mattress-like seat can be upholstered in wide array of fabrics. These can be mixed and matched with the six new colour options of the frame, to provide a total of ten colourways. Feltri was created within Cassina’s Research Centre, a place synonymous with experimentation and constructional avant-garde thinking. Here, Gaetano Pesce dedicated time and thought to the design, in the process thinking up a complex new manufacturing process that was later patented by the company. Created entirely from dense wool felt, the pliable, wrap-around back is all one piece. The lower section, meanwhile, is rigid and sturdy, thanks to being impregnated with a thermosetting resin. The seat is attached to the frame using hemp ties; these also extend around the chair’s upper part. A comfortable quilt, coupled with polyester wadding, serves to upholster the inner section of the chair.

Rietveld, Dutch architect with a strong bent for experimentation, and one of the founders, with Mondrian, of the neo-plastic de stijl movement in 1917, designed the Utrecht model in 1935. This model was created for the Metz&co department store in Amsterdam, hence conceived for the mass market, and represents Rietveld’s decision to adopt a more “market oriented” approach to comfort and relaxation. An example of the breakdown of elements, emphasised by two types of visible stitching (saddle stitch or zig zag) in five different colours.
 

Designed in 1951 by Marco Zanuso for Arflex, the Lady armchair won the gold medal at the IX Milan Triennale in the same year. The armchair stands as a modern icon, the fruit of innovation that turned the traditional manufacturing technique for making armchairs and sofas on its head, with each part manufactured separately and then assembled; seat, backrests and sides with diff erent padding densities depending on the support required by the pressure exerted by the body.
Today, the look of the Lady armchair has been made even more contemporary by a new selection of fabrics designed by Raf Simons and introduced to Cassina’s Everest collection.

A versatile chaise longue, a cross between an ergonomic car seat, adjustable with a knob, and the playful silhouette of Mickey Mouse. Designed in 1980 by Kita, the internationally famous Japanese designer, Wink is a timeless model, a break away from the banal due to its transformability and range of interchangeable upholstery. As part of the C90 Mutazioni programme, it comes with new details and upholstery in an updated range of fabrics and colours.
 

Armchair with tubular steel frame. Leather upholstery zippered over the frame, available in five colours: black, brown, taupe, China red and blue.The seat cushion is padded with CFC-free polyurethane foam and feather. The headrest and backrest cushions are feather padded and fi xed to the frame with leather-upholstered hooks. The cushions are upholstered in leather and are recommended in the fi ve colours off ered for the leather frame. The base has five steel spokes painted matte black, matte grey beige or matte chestnut brown. Plastic foot rests.

Maralunga is an emblematic sofa of the iContemporanei collection by Cassina, the work of architect and industrial designer Vico Magistretti. Winner of the Compasso d’Oro in 1979, Maralunga is the embodiment of the very idea of comfort, with an adjustable headrest for a high or low backrest version obtained by inserting a simple bicycle chain inside the foam of the backrest.
The model comes as an armchair, two- or three-seater sofas in diff erent widths, and pouf. To mark its 40th anniversary, Cassina presents a new interpretation with fabric or leather upholstery and distinctive profi le stitching, to make it even more modern and contemporary, also available with removable cover.

Armchair, designed by Marco Zanuso for Arflex, composed of three distinct elements: curved wood frame, supporting panel and cushions. The wooden frame is made of curved plywood with black stained ashwood or walnut stained walnut finishes. The supporting panel is composed of an internal steel panel upholstered in non-removable stiff leather available in a wide range of colours. Non-removable cushion covers in fabric or leather. The armchair is also available in an iconic edition featuring a walnut stained walnut wooden frame, supporting panel in beige-coloured stiff leather and cushions covered in natural leather ZZ (pelle naturale ZZ) 13Z361 tobacco. In 1964, in a more technologically advanced context, with Woodline, Zanuso developed the supporting frame, which in this version is in wood (there is also a metal-framed similar version). It is designed from a matrix based on the geometry of the circle, which gives the entire structure a classic formal precision.