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.
Small 1950s Mid-Century Italian Stool in Brown Velvet and Cesare Lacca Design Ma
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Palermo, Sicily
Great style and shape for this small stool of great character and shape, created in velvet with buttons.
Velvet, Mahogany
$2,071 / set
Pair Bar stools by Cesare Lacca
By Cesare Lacca
Located in London, GB
A delightful pair of bar stools in dark cherrywood newly upholstered in African inspired velvet fabric. Designed circa 1950 by Cesare Lacca .
Velvet, Cherry
Mid-Century Modern Riviera Style Rattan Circular Stool 1950s Italy
By Bonacina
Located in Vienna, AT
Mid-Century Modern vintage stool circular like from rattan attributed to Bonacina 1950s Italy. An amazing circular like stool with beautiful rattan network at the seat and wrapped r...
Rattan
Mid-Century Modern Vintage Brass Chiavari Stool, 1950s, Italy
Located in Vienna, AT
Mid-Century Modern vintage brass stool Chiavari 1950s Italy, which shows a brass frame and an upholstered seat. The seat is newly covered with blu...
Metal, Brass
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
Pair of Italian Bar Stools
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Vintage pair of bar stools in the shape of female legs in colored resin with iron footrest and red fabric cushions / Made in Italy, 1970s Height: 32 inches / diameter: 18 inches 1 pa...
Iron
Italian 1950s Single Stool in Lacquered Wood and Blue Velvet
Located in Milan, IT
Italian 1950s Single Stool in Lacquered Wood and Blue Velvet
Velvet, Wood
$2,992 / set
H 19.3 in Dm 12.6 in
Pair of Italian Mid-Century Brass Stools with Green Velvet Seats, 1950s
Located in Milan, IT
Elegant pair of Italian mid-century stools crafted in polished brass, dating to the 1950s. The stools feature gracefully curved legs connected by a circular stretcher and a distincti...
Brass
Pair Wicker Bar Stools
Located in New York, NY
Pair wicker bar stools. Pair well made vintage wicker bar/counter stools with conforming arms and a brass rail foot rest in natural mellowed wicker. ...
Wicker
Pair of 'Antibes' Swiveling Bar Stools by Design Frères
By Design Frères
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Pair of swiveling bar stools by Design Frères. 30 in. seat height. Suitable for bar, not counter height.
Steel
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
$3,112 / item
H 40.16 in W 20.48 in D 20.48 in
Laurameroni "Margaret" Modern Velvet Bar High Stool by Cesare Arosio
By Laurameroni, Cesare Arosio
Located in Monza, IT
Padded bar stool with structure in wood painted walnut Canaletto. Seat and back in polyurethane foam padding covered in shiny "Roxana" velvet. FINIS...
Velvet, Wood
Pair Regency Style Bar Stools
Located in Pasadena, TX
French style Regency barstools Barstools with natural linen backs and leather seats and backs. Frame constructed of solid kiln dried mahogany. Seat height 34” ½ Dimensions: 24'...
Walnut
Mid Century Italian Octagonal Stool in Champagne Velvet
Located in Troy, MI
Circa late 1950s / early 1960s Italian octagonal upholstered stool with newer light champagne-colored velvet fabric with four slim, tapered black metal legs and brass feet. Unknown m...
Metal, Brass