Interlude Armchair in Leather by Marco Zanuso for Poltrona Frau, 1980s

Italian architect-designer Marco Zanuso was born in Milan in 1916. After graduating from the Politecnico di Milano in 1939, he taught architecture, design, and town planning from the 1940s onwards. Zanuso opened his own architecture and design studio in Milan in 1945.

In the late 1940s, Zanuso began collaborating with Italian manufacturing company Arflex to create a furniture collection using a newly developed polyurethane foam and elastic tape. Guided by the principle that these new materials would inform the aesthetic result, Zanuso designed a series of pieces for Arflex that became icons of modernist design, including the Lady Armchair (1951)—which won the gold medal at Milan’s IX Triennale—the Sleep-o-matic Sofa (1951), the Martingala Armchair (1952), and the Fourline Armchair (1964).

Between 1957 and 1977, Zanuso maintained a partnership with German industrial designer Richard Sapper (1932-2015). Together they pioneered a new postwar aesthetic known as techno-functionalism, which evolved from a series of radios and televisions they designed. Successful designs by the pair include Lambda Chair for Gavina (1959), Doney 14 for Brionvega (1962)—the first fully-transistor television—the Grillo Telephone for Siemens (1966), and a series of mobile housing units for the landmark Italy: The New Domestic Landscape exhibition at MoMA in New York in 1972. Designs in Zanuso’s architectural repertoire include the Olivetti factory buildings in Buenos Aires and São Paulo (1955-57), the IBM factory buildings in Milan (1974), and the Piccolo Theater in Milan (1998).

As a designer who was dedicated to optimizing industriali production, Zanuso’s rationalist designs embrace experimental materials that are fully exploited to improve market accessibility. Characterized by bright colors, synthetic materials, and sculptural shapes, his work brought vanguard concepts to mass-produced consumer products. Notably, he also served as editor for both Domus and Casabella magazines. Winner of five Compasso d’Oro prizes between 1956 and 1985, Zanuso’s designs can be found in many permanent collections, including MoMA New York, the Triennale in Milan, and the Arflex Museum in Italy.

Zanuso passed away in Milan in 2001.

Sardinian-born designer-entrepreneur Lorenzo “Renzo” Frau (1881-1926) founded the enduring Italian furniture brand Poltrona Frau in Turin in 1912. In these early years of the 20th century, Turin was home to an energetic community of vanguard artists, architects, and designers aligned with the Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts movements popular in London and Paris. Within this milieu, Frau set out to create an artisanal atelier specialized in high-end, leather-upholstered furnishings inspired by the classic, British Chesterfield Sofa. This influence later manifested in a number of top-selling designs in the Art Deco style.

Frau’s wife, Savina Pisati, played an increasingly important role in directing the company during World War I and after. Under her leadership, Poltrona Frau earned an international reputation for excellent quality and sophisticated silhouettes, and, by the midcentury, could be found in aristocratic homes, luxury ocean liners, and parliamentary meeting rooms around the world. Early successful designs for Poltrona Frau included the 1919 Armchair (also called the 128) from the titular year and the Vanity Fair Armchair (also called the 904) from 1930, both still in production today. In 1941, Pisati passed the baton to her son-in-law, Roberto Canziani, who in 1962, under pressure of bankruptcy, sold the company to luxury leather goods magnate and design lover, Franco Moschini of Nazareno Gabrielli Group.

Through the second half of the 20th century and beyond, Poltrona Frau continued to grow and thrive, finding great success especially with armchairs by Tito Agnoli, Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Gio Ponti, Michele de Lucchi, Sergio Mazza, Enzo Mari, Massimo & Lella Vignelli, and Marco Zanuso. The company also developed a new business division dedicated to the automotive sector, outfitting luxury cars for brands like Ferrari, Maserati, and Lancia.

The Poltrona Frau Group remains one of the most prestigious design companies in the world, providing an umbrella for a number of other design brands, including Gebrüder Thonet Vienna, Cappellini, Cassina, Alias, Nemo Lighting, Ceramica Flaminia, and Fish Design. In 2014, US-based Haworth Group purchased a controlling interest in Poltrona Frau.

* All images courtesy of Poltrona Frau