Architect and designer Cesare Lacca is renowned for the modernist furniture he created during the 1950s. Made with materials like teak, glass and brass, his work continues to command great interest from mid-century modern collectors. His pieces have recently found their way onto some of the 21st century’s most trendy television and movie sets.
Lacca was born in Naples, Italy, in 1929. Like many Italian designers in the 20th century, he moved to Milan after World War II to launch his career. At the age of 20, he was selected by a group of American curators for inclusion in the 1951 landmark exhibition “Italy at Work: Her Renaissance in Design Today” at the Art Institute of Chicago. It showcased Italian designers who had embraced modernist principles and rejuvenated traditional Italian crafts, like Carlo Mollino, Franco Albini and Gio Ponti.
Lacca designed a dizzying array of tea carts and serving trolleys across his career, including magazine racks and coffee tables. Lacca’s most well-known piece is a tea cart — most commonly used as a bar cart — that Cassina manufactured. It features beautifully sculpted beech, cedar, teak and walnut with brass details, a glass tabletop and a removable glass tray.
This Lacca cart was featured as Don Draper’s office bar in his Manhattan advertising agency on several episodes of the wildly popular television show Mad Men, reinvigorating the interest of collectors. Several other Lacca pieces have been part of the set decorations in the television series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the movie Being the Ricardos.
On 1stDibs, find Cesare Lacca tables, racks and stands, seating and more.
Armchair by Cesare Lacca for ISA Bergamo
By Cesare Lacca, ISA Bergamo
Located in Conversano, IT
Extraordinary armchair designed by Cesare Lacca for the renowned manufacturer ISA (Industria Salotti e Arredamenti) Bergamo, dating back to the 1950s. This piece is an emblematic exa...
Brass
$3,600 / item
Cesare Lacca Armchair
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Shibuya-ku, 13
This armchair was designed by Italian architect and designer CESARE LACCA. He is known as a craftsman who worked on modernist furniture as well as metalwork. The flowing silhouette o...
Fabric, Wood
$16,576 / set
H 30.71 in W 32.68 in D 30.71 in
Pair of Giulia Veronesi 'Perla' Armchairs in Green Velvet, ISA Bergamo, 1950s
By ISA Bergamo, Dedar, Giulia Veronesi
Located in The Hague, NL
This rare pair of armchairs was designed by Giulia Veronesi and produced by ISA Bergamo, Italy, in the early 1950s. The model, known as Perla, is considered one of the iconic chair d...
Fabric, Upholstery, Velvet, Beech
$2,652Sale Price / set|30% Off
H 28.35 in W 26.38 in D 26.78 in
ISA Bergamo Pair of Armchairs Italian Design Mid-Century Modern Brown Brass Feet
By ISA Bergamo
Located in Palermo, Sicily
ISA Bergamo pair of armchairs Italian design Mid-Century Modern brown brass feet.
Brass
$9,945 / set
H 34.26 in W 31.5 in D 35.44 in
Ico Parisi velvet and brass armchairs by Isa Bergamo, Italy, 1950s
By ISA Bergamo, Ico Parisi
Located in Chiavari, Liguria
Pair of fabric armchairs with brass legs by Ico Parisi and manufactured by Isa Bergamo. This pair of Italian armchairs exemplifies the finest stylistic research of the 1950s. The de...
Brass
$3,670Sale Price|20% Off
H 34.26 in W 45.28 in D 23.63 in
Italian Turquoise Velvet Sofa by Cesare Lacca, 1950s
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Nicolosi, IT
Elegant two-seater sofa designed by Cesare Lacca in Italy during the 1950s. This sculptural piece embodies the refined balance between organic form and architectural precision typica...
Velvet, Wood
$3,783 / set
H 33.08 in W 18.9 in D 22.84 in
Attributed Gio Ponti Mid-Century Italian Small Armchairs by ISA Bergamo, Pair
By ISA Bergamo, Gio Ponti
Located in Puglia, Puglia
Pair of small Margherita model armchairs with high and comfortable backrest, conical beech foot, upholstery in good condition. The velvet is original from the period but a new uphols...
Velvet, Beech
$4,800Sale Price / set|30% Off
H 33.47 in W 26.38 in D 33.47 in
Mid-Century Pair Armchairs Isa Bergamo 1950s Green Fabric Brass Feet
By ISA Bergamo
Located in Palermo, Sicily
Mid-century pair armchairs Isa Bergamo 1950s green fabric brass feet.
Brass
$4,144Sale Price / set|56% Off
H 29.53 in W 90.56 in D 90.56 in
Elegant Modular Curved Sofa Italian Midcentury Green Brass Feet Cesare Lacca
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Palermo, Sicily
Elegant modular curved sofa Italian midcentury design Cesare Lacca Design.
Brass
$120,000 / set
H 42.1 in W 24.4 in D 25.5 in
Pair of Armchairs “Triennale” by Gio Ponti for ISA Bergamo, Italy
By Gio Ponti
Located in New York, NY
Pair of sculptural armchairs with smooth wooden frames, featuring subtly winged sides and trapezoidal backrests and seats. Designed by Gio Ponti and produced by I.S.A. Bergamo in 195...
Velvet, Wood
$21,284
H 31.11 in W 62.21 in D 31.5 in
Exceptional Curved Cesare Lacca Sofa in Fadini Borghi Velvet, Italy, 1950s
By La Maison Pierre Frey, Cesare Lacca
Located in The Hague, NL
This exceptional two-seater sofa was designed by Cesare Lacca and produced in Italy in the early 1950s. The elegant, rounded lines of the backrest and curved seat create a sophistica...
Fabric, Upholstery, Velvet, Wood, Walnut
$9,472Sale Price|20% Off
H 29.93 in W 57.49 in D 33.08 in
Sofa in the style of Gio Ponti, Cesare Lacca, Guglielmo Veronesi.
By Cesare Lacca, Fede Cheti, Cassina, Gio Ponti
Located in Lugo, IT
Velvet sofa in the style of Ponti, Lacca, Veronesi. Broken leg. Back fabric of sofa in satin with halos. Small hole in the back fabric This item has been treated in the gas chamber f...
Fabric
Cherner Armchair
By Norman Cherner
Located in New York, NY
The Cherner Armchair by Norman Cherner. Originally introduced in 1958. The armchair elegantly combines a unique molded plywood shell of tapering thickness, a solid bent walnut arm an...
Walnut
Cherner Armchair
By Norman Cherner, The Cherner Chair Company
Located in Berkeley, CA
Originally introduced in 1958, the iconic molded plywood armchair by Norman Cherner is found in collections worldwide. Reissued in exacting det...
Walnut
Sold
H 40.16 in W 29.14 in D 31.5 in
Pair Mid-Century Italian Armchairs Cesare Lacca 1950s Light Blue Velvet
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Palermo, Sicily
Pair of armchairs of character and great personality fully reflect the Italian style of the 1950s, we used an excellent Jab velvet of extraordinary quality.
Velvet, Wood
Mid-Century Modern Pair of Italian Armchairs by Cesare Lacca
By Cesare Lacca
Located in London, GB
Pair of armchairs with brass legs and shaped back, reupholstered in grey linen.
Brass