Cesare Lacca Sofas
Italian, b. 1929
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.
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Creator: Cesare Lacca
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...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Cesare Lacca Sofas
Materials
Fabric, Upholstery, Velvet, Wood, Walnut
Small 2 Seater Caesar Sofa Lacquer Italy 1950s Restored Green Velvet
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Palermo, Sicily
Delightful and original two-seater from the 1950s totally restored in green velvet fabric , wooden feet. Caesar Lacquer design
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Cesare Lacca Sofas
Materials
Velvet
Small Sofa Italian Mid-Century Design Green Velvet Cesare Lacca, 1950s
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Palermo, Sicily
A small sofa with a pleasant shape, design and elegance, restored with a good petrol green velvet.
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Cesare Lacca Sofas
Materials
Velvet, Wood
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.
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Cesare Lacca Sofas
Materials
Brass
Mid-Century Modern Sofa by Cesare Lacca, Italy, 1950s
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Brussels, BE
Mid-Century Modern Sofa by Cesare Lacca, Italy, 1950s
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Cesare Lacca Sofas
Materials
Fabric
Divano a conchiglia in velluto anni 50 nello stile di Gio Ponti
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Torino, IT
Gli anni '50 italiani sono stati iconici ed innovativi soprattutto per quanto riguarda le sedute, questo piccolo divano è esempio del genio creativo italiano.
Tra i grandi maestri ch...
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1950s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Cesare Lacca Sofas
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Velvet, Giltwood
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The variety and quality of Cesare Lacca's creations placed him high among the architect-designers leading the Modernist movement in Italy. As this sofa shows, the quality of his work provides all the decorative effectiveness needed without strain or exaggeration.
This rare sofa is evidence, that Lacca like most Italian designers, found it challenging to balance modern creativity and classical elegance, but eventually found the recipe for the perfect result. Like their international counterparts, Italian designers prized the marriage of form and function. Lacca took this further by designing an asymmetrical shape that is as playful as it is stylish; it shows Lacca’s skill to fuse sleek design with the trappings of comfort. The heavily curved body can easily embrace four to five people with its enveloping back and seat. It offers something from every single angle thanks to the asymmetry that governs the aesthetic. It is further highlighted by the differently colored upholstery and line tracing that directs the attention to the outline of the sofa. The large body is supported by four sets of solid wood, tapered legs. Curved sofas are in general considered statement pieces, for reasons that this large sofa makes evident: a large, fully upholstered body with pronounced curves, high quality materials and of course, impeccable craftsmanship.
Though midcentury Italian designers may not have the name recognition as some of their Scandinavian and American counterparts, they were integral to developing a modern aesthetic in Europe. This is especially true for Cesare Lacca, who created this sofa in the golden days of the midcentury modernist movement.
Condition:
In vintage condition. The sofa has its original upholstery with visible traces of wear. Each of our items can be re-upholstered by our in-house atelier in a fabric of choice. Please reach out for more information.
Dimensions:
108.86 in W x 51.97 in D x 35.83 in H; Seat height 14.96 in; Arm height 25.59 in
276.5 cm W x 132 cm D x 91 cm H; Seat height 38 cm; Arm height 65 cm
About the designer:
Born in Naples in 1929, Italian architect-designer Cesare Lacca created modernist furniture and metalwork throughout the 1950s. Though details of his personal life and professional training remain lost to history, there are sufficient surviving primary sources that document his many elegant designs.
Like many Italian designers in the 20th century, Lacca moved to Milan after World War II to launch his career. Before he was even 21 years old, his work was selected by a group of American curators for inclusion in the landmark exhibition Italy at Work: Her Renaissance in Design Today that toured 12 US museums between 1950 and 1953—the first major exhibition of Italian design outside of Italy. The exhibition showcased the best and brightest of Italian designers who had embraced modernist principles and rejuvenated traditional Italian crafts, like Carlo Mollino, Franco Albini, and Gio Ponti
Lacca designed a great many tea carts and serving trolleys in his career—which make up a large proportion of what is available on the vintage market today—as well as magazine racks and coffee tables. His seating models were regularly featured in Arredoluce advertisements for Angelo Lelli’s lighting...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Cesare Lacca Sofas
Materials
Fabric, Wood
H 35.83 in W 108.86 in D 51.97 in
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Cesare Lacca sofas for sale on 1stDibs.
Cesare Lacca sofas are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of fabric and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Cesare Lacca sofas, although red editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original sofas by Cesare Lacca were created in the mid-century modern style in italy during the mid-20th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider sofas by Vittorio Introini, Sergio Asti, and Massimo Vignelli. Prices for Cesare Lacca sofas can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $2,772 and can go as high as $6,103, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $4,436.