Franco Albini Serving Tables
Italian, 1905-1977
While working under the polymath Gio Ponti — arguably the most important figure in 20th-century Italian modernism — furniture designer Franco Albini nurtured a love for modern forms combined with traditional craft techniques.
Albini is widely known for working with organic materials such as rattan and cane for his chairs and other seating, but he also played a pivotal role in the Italian rationalist movement of the early 20th century, which saw architects and furniture makers applying a strict emphasis on geometry in their work. Rationalists drew on Ancient Roman architecture but rejected ornament, much in the way that Le Corbusier and celebrated Bauhaus figures such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe had in their modernist furniture.
Albini received his degree in architecture from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1929, and, in 1931, he founded his practice in Milan, where he tackled workers’ housing and other reconstruction projects. A gifted urban planner, he also developed the Palazzo Bianco, Palazzo Rosso and Tesoro di San Lorenzo museums in Genoa. While Albini is revered for his Margherita chair — a Triennale Milano award winner created for Bonacina in 1951 — he also collaborated with manufacturers Poggi and Cassina in the 1940s on seating, tables and more that embodied his artistic vision. Of that mid-century work, the one piece that perhaps best captures this vision is the iconic Luisa chair.
With its cherry red upholstery and sinuous wooden legs that seem to float aboveground, the Luisa is a genuine masterpiece. It is also a testament to Albini’s perfectionism, as it endured several prototypes — including one made by Knoll in the late 1940s — and took approximately 15 years to design. Poggi launched the final version of the armchair in 1955, earning Albini the prestigious Compasso d’Oro from Italy’s Association for Industrial Design. It is produced today by Cassina. Albini named the chair for someone who likely saw the process firsthand: his personal secretary of two decades, Luisa Colombini.
Find vintage Franco Albini furniture on 1stDibs.
3
to
2
1
3
3
3
3
3
3
1
Height
to
Width
to
Depth
to
2
2
2
1
1
3
3
202
17
10
8
8
Creator: Franco Albini
Serving Trolley Model CR20 In Mahogany By Franco Albini for Poggi, Italy 1958
By Franco Albini, Poggi, Franca Helg
Located in Hellouw, NL
Franco Albini was a significant figure in modern Italian design of the twentieth century. His creations are characterized by an aesthetic that can best be described as elegant minima...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Mahogany
Italian Mid-Century Modern Bamboo and Rattan Bar / Serving Cart by Franco Albini
By Franco Albini
Located in New York, NY
Rare and important Italian Mid-Century Modern rattan and glass bar or serving cart by Franco Albini. The piece is unique in linking traditional materials (rattan, bamboo) with an ope...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Bamboo, Rattan
Italian Mid-Century Modern Bamboo & Rattan Bar Cart by Franco Albini
By Franco Albini
Located in New York, NY
Rare and important Italian Mid-Century Modern rattan and glass bar or serving cart by Franco Albini. The piece is unique in linking traditional materials (rattan, bamboo) with an ope...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Bamboo, Rattan, Glass
Related Items
Italian Design Mid-Century Bar Cart, 1950s
Located in Casale Monferrato, IT
Rare 1950s Italian desgin serving bar cart. Made of beech wood equipped with two glass shelves and brass wheels for convenient movement. Perfect for serving drinks to your guests. Vi...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Glass, Beech
Desk Model TL22, by Franco Albini and Franca Helg. Poggi, 1958
By Franco Albini and Franca Helg, Amando Poggi
Located in Wolfurt, AT
Desk model TL22, designed by Franco Albini and Franca Helg and manufactured by Poggi in 1958.
Table completely restored. Wood: walnut.
Letteratura: Gramigna G., Repertorio del desig...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Walnut
Franco Albini Rosewood Mid-Century Modern “LB7” Modular Bookcase for Poggi, 1957
By Poggi, Franco Albini
Located in Vicenza, IT
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...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Brass, Iron
H 109.45 in W 104.34 in D 13.78 in
Mid-Century Modern Italian Serving Cart
By Romeo Rega
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This vintage brass serving cart features unique Mid-Century design, combining simple lines and plenty of room for storage or service. Made i...
Category
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Brass
20th Century Italian Cassina Bar Cart, Serving Walnut Trolley by Cesare Lacca
By Cesare Lacca, Cassina
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
A vintage Mid-Century Modern Italian bar cart made of hand crafted polished Walnut, designed by Cesare Lacca and produced by Cassina, enhanced by detailed wood carvings, in good cond...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Metal, Chrome
No Reserve
H 28 in W 34 in D 17 in
Italian Mid-Century Modern Brass Bar Cart
By Maison Ramsay, Romeo Rega, Maison Baguès, Milo Baughman, Maison Jansen
Located in Houston, TX
Italian Mid-Century Modern brass bar cart.
Italian Mid-Century Modern seamless brass bar cart, serving cart, drinks cart or cocktail trolley. Thi...
Category
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Brass
Mid-Century Modern Bar Cart
Located in Westwood, NJ
Mid-Century Modern bar cart with removable tray and shelf has hand-cast brass hardware and brass wheels with floor protective tread having a “rustic” w...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Mid-Century Modern Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Wood
French Riviera Bamboo and Rattan Round Serving Bar Cart Trolley, Italy 1960s
Located in Roma, IT
Stunning Mid-Century round bar cart trolley fully made in bamboo, curved rattan and hand-woven wicker. This unique piece was hand-crafted during the 1960s in Italy. with perfect prop...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Metal
H 25.6 in W 16.54 in D 19.3 in
Midcentury Italian Bamboo, Rattan and Formica Bar Serving Cart, Italy 1960s
Located in Roma, IT
Gorgeous Mid-Century Italian serving trolley in bamboo, curved rattan and woven wicker and white formica. This exceptional piece was produced in Italy during the 1960s.
This unique ...
Category
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Formica, Bamboo, Laminate, Glass, Rattan
H 32.68 in W 33.86 in D 16.93 in
Midcentury Bamboo and Rattan Italian Rectangular Serving Bar Cart Trolley, 1960s
Located in Roma, IT
Midcentury bamboo cane and rattan rectangular bar cart trolley with wheels. This unique piece was produced in Italy during the 1960s.
A wonderful item in a fantastic vintage condi...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Bamboo, Rattan, Cane
H 25.2 in W 28.75 in D 18.12 in
Italian Mid-Century Rattan and Bamboo Barrel-Shaped Bar Cart, Italy, 1960s
Located in Roma, IT
Incredible barrel shaped bar cart or trolley in rattan and bamboo produced in Italy in 1960s.
The bar cart consist of a rattan spiral designed top with a curved handle, an interio...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Bamboo, Wicker, Cane, Rattan
H 35.44 in W 18.9 in D 23.63 in
Italian Midcentury Plywood Serving Trolley by Campo and Graffi for Stilcasa
By Franco Campo & Carlo Graffi, Stilcasa
Located in Vienna, AT
This Charming Italian Midcentury Bar Cart or Serving Trolley was produced by Creazioni Stilcasa and designed by Franco Campo and Carlo Graffi in Italy 1950s.
It features two removabl...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Metal
H 25.99 in W 24.41 in D 17.33 in
Previously Available Items
Serving Table / Franco Albini, 1958
By Poggi, Franco Albini
Located in Berlin, DE
This elegant serving cart (model CR20) made of solid teak as well as plywood impresses with its simplicity. The two tableau level is flanked by three struts placed on casters. Design...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Teak, Plywood
Tea Trolley CR20 by Franco Albini & Franca Helg, Poggi Italy 1958
By Franco Albini, Franca Helg
Located in Berlin, DE
Tea Trolley CR20 by Franco Albini & Franca Helg, Poggi Italy 1958
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Franco Albini Serving Tables
Materials
Plywood, Sycamore, Teak
Franco Albini serving tables for sale on 1stDibs.
Franco Albini serving tables are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of wood and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Franco Albini serving tables, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original serving tables by Franco Albini 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 serving tables by Cesare Lacca, and Aldo Tura. Prices for Franco Albini serving tables can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $4,740 and can go as high as $9,500, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $7,960.