Franca Helg Furniture

Extraordinary Mid-Century wall shelf in curved rattan, bamboo and wicker. This marvellous object was made in Italy in the 1960s and is attributed to the mastery of Franco Albini. Th...

Modular bookcase model LB7 designed by Franco Albini for Poggi. Marked Poggi Pavia. An extremely flexible bookcase, with different modular options, suited to being against a wall or...

Modular bookshelf designed by Franco Albini in 1956 for Poggi Pavia. An exceptionally flexible bookshelf with various modular options, suitable to be placed against a wall or used as...

Gorgeous midcentury rectangular wall shelf in curved rattan, bamboo and hand-woven wicker. This charming French Riviera style shelf was designed by Franco Albini and produced in Ita...

LB7 bookcase, designed by Franco Albini and manufactured by Poggi in 1957. Modular bookstore composed by upholds, containers with flying and doors, shelve. The industrial standard for every product component allows permanent and different solutions, from the bearing structures to the elements. The structure does not need anchorages to the wall and can be placed in the middle of the space. This set is composed of 3 modules, ten shelves, and three containers. It is made of Rosewood, iron, and brass. Excellent vintage condition. Franco Albini was born in Robbiate in 1905, and after his childhood and part of his youth, he moved to Milan. He graduated at Politecnico of Milan, Faculty of Architecture, in 1929, and He collaborated for three years in Giò Ponti and Emilio Lancia’s office. He probably had his international contacts here, at The International Exposition of 1929 in Barcelona and Paris, where he visited le Corbusier’s office, as Franca Helg used to tell. Throughout these first three years, his works were undoubtedly related to XIXth Century. His meeting with Edoardo Persico marks an evident turnover towards rationalism and writers for “Casabella” magazine. Persico’s thoughtful and ironical comments on some of Albini’s drawings for office furniture caused him deep upsetting. “I spent days of real anxiety – tells Albini – I had to answer all questions. I had a long fever”. The new phase that the meeting provoked begins with opening his own first office at Via Panizza with Renato Camus and Giancarlo Palanti. The group of Architects starts taking care of social housing, participating in the competition for the Baracca neighborhood in 1932, and then realizing the Ifacp neighborhood: Fabio Filzi (1936/38), Gabriele D’Annunzio, and Ettore Ponti (1939). During those years, He also worked for his first private villa (Pestarini). It is mainly in the context of exhibitions that the Italian architect experiments the compromise between rigor and poetic fantasy that Pagano was talking about; He conceived all the elements that would become recurrent in all types of his work – Architecture, Interiors, Design. The 1933 opening of the new Triennale of Milano, in Palazzo dell’Arte, becomes an occasion to express the highly innovative character of rationalist thinking. In this place, to experiment with new materials and solutions, but most of all a “method”. Young rationalist architects cultivated the art of exhibiting as a communication lab, an open field to space solutions. Albini, with Giancarlo Palanti, sets the steel structure house (with R. Camus, G. Mazzoleni, G. Minoletti and coordination by G. Pagano) designing also its furniture. For the next Triennale in 1936, marked by Persico’s early death, Franco Albini, together with a group of young architects around Pagano, takes care of the exhibition of Dwelling, where he presented 3 types of lodgings. In the same year, Albini and Romano design the exhibition for Ancient Italian jewelry: vertical uprights, simple linear poles design space. This element is recurring in other works, like the Scipione exhibition (1941), Vanzetti stand (1942), and Olivetti shop in Paris (1956). The architectural space is readable through a grid, introducing a third dimension, the vertical one, with a sense of lightness and transparency. Upright is also used in design objects, such as the Veliero bookcase...

Iconic Post Modern Art Deco Revival, Hollywood Regency style torchiere, designed by Franco Albini and Franca Heig, this example was made in Italy ...

The LB7 "Infinito" bookcase by Franco Albini for Poggi is an iconic creation of 1950s Italian design. This bookcase, designed in 1957, bears Albini's distinctive signature with its c...

Italian Mid-Century Modern design credenza sideboard designed by Franco Albini and produced by Poggi Pavia from 1958, four doors with sliding shelves and a pull-out shelf / tray, sol...

Franco Albini Modular bookcase model "LB7" Production Poggi Pavia 1957 This bookcase has two storage modules, one divided into 4 sections and the other with a shelf. Plus two shelves...

An Italian model MB 51 sideboard designed by Franco Albini for Poggi. Made of solid teak with a minimalist design and sharp lines.

Franco Albini, MB15 pair of sideboards for Poggi, Italy, 1957 The two MB15 sideboards by Franco Albini shown in the images feature a refined and understated design, typical of the I...

A wall light or sconce having an asymmetrical adjustable shade in painted white finish with brass stem and bracket.