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Maralunga Sofa
Iconic Designs

Maralunga Sofa

About the Design

While origin stories behind the world’s timeless designs vary widely, the story of the Maralunga sofa is one of the best in design lore: As legend has it, when Cassina founder Cesare Cassina first saw the prototype for the piece in the mid-1970s by Italian furniture designer Vico Magistretti (1920–2006), he was so disgusted by it that he punched it, breaking the back of the sofa, which crumbled over itself . . . into the shape the piece would eventually take. (“Right, great, it looks perfect to me like that,” Magistretti allegedly responded.)

Whether it was his accidental adjustment or further consideration of the design, Cassina clearly came around: His company debuted Magistretti’s design in 1973. The Maralunga is characterized by what looks like a slumped backrest but is really an adjustable-height headrest, moved by way of a bicycle chain that runs underneath its plush foam cushions.

The effect is a sofa that serves two functions: It’s both a backdrop for social conversation and a setting for solo relaxation. “My intention with Maralunga was to design an object that represented a whole range of interior architecture with a familiar feel,” Magistretti said of the design. “Two positions, two possible uses, two different ways to create your own personal space inside a room.”

While the Maralunga’s boxy shape is pure ’70s, the sofa holds its own in a range of interiors and remains popular today. Cassina now produces it in a variety of upholstery options and, in 2014, enlisted a slew of designers to reinterpret it in celebration of its 40th anniversary.

Vico Magistretti Maralunga Sofa

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Cassina Maralunga 2-Seater Sofa Colourful Striped Velvet
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in HEILOO, NL
Beautiful italian designer 2-seater sofa designed in 1973. Designed by Vico Magistretti fo Cassina. Production period 1990/2000. The sofa is covered with a soft velvet fabric ...
Category

1990s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas

Materials

Fabric, Velvet

3-Seater Maralunga Sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Grand Cayman, KY
Iconic Mid-Century Modern "Maralunga" 3-seater sofas / armchairs by Vico Magistretti for Cassina. This example features green-grey velvet with colored pattern. While the fabric holds strong, re-covering in new fabric is recommended. Head / backrests are adjustable for a cheeky look that never fails to turn heads in the living room. They are also extremely comfortable. The height of the sofa with fully extended headrest is 40 in (100 cm) and 30 in (71 cm) when fully compressed. It has been professionally laundered and is clean, however, the fabric remains discolored. Structurally sound in every respect and an excellent candidates for re-covering according to decorator's desire. While origin stories behind the world’s timeless designs vary widely, the story of the Maralunga sofa is one of the best in design lore: As legend has it, when Cassina founder Cesare Cassina first saw the prototype for the piece in the mid-1970s by Italian furniture designer Vico Magistretti (1920–2006), he was so disgusted by it that he punched it, breaking the back of the sofa, which crumbled over itself . . . into the shape the piece would eventually take. (“Right, great, it looks perfect to me like that,” Magistretti allegedly responded.) Whether it was his accidental adjustment or further consideration of the design, Cassina clearly came around: His company debuted Magistretti’s design in 1973. The Maralunga is characterized by what looks like a slumped backrest but is really an adjustable-height headrest, moved by way of a bicycle chain...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas

Materials

Velvet

Cassina Maralunga Leather Armchair Brown by Vico Magistretti
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Ludwigslust, DE
This dark brown Maralunga from the 1970s is in very good condition. The armrests of the armchair show slight signs of wear on the leather, otherwise the leather is in perfect conditi...
Category

Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs

Materials

Leather

Maralunga Chair 675 by Vico Magistretti for Cassina.
By Vico Magistretti
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Maralunga leather chair by Vico Magisretti for Casina is essential Italian style and design. Maralunga is a classic of Italian design and ha...
Category

Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs

Materials

Leather

Italian Leather Sofa by Vico Magistretti for Casina
By Vico Magistretti
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Maralunga leather sofa by Vico Magisretti for Casina is essential Italian style and design. Maralunga become a clasic of Italian design and has several prestigious awards like Compas...
Category

Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas

Materials

Leather

Maralunga Sofas by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, 1970s
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Almelo, NL
Maralunga sofas by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, 1970s An exemplary version of the iconic Maralunga sofas in original vintage fabric. The...
Category

Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas

Materials

Steel

Maralunga Sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, 1970s
By Vico Magistretti
Located in Greensboro, NC
Maralunga sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, 1970s in a stylish striped fabric. Original fabric appears to be ...
Category

Late 20th Century Italian Modern Settees

Materials

Steel

Vico Magistretti Maralunga Sofa, three-seater sofa, in 70s leather, by Cassina
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Milan, IT
Vico Magistretti Maralunga Sofa, Maralunga sofa, designed by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, Italian manufacture dating back to the se...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas

Materials

Leather

Maralunga Armchairs by Vico Magistretti for Cassina
By Vico Magistretti
Located in Premariacco, IT
Pair of iconic Italian armchairs from the 70s, original Cassina production based on a design by Vico Magistretti. One of a kind, upholstered in Jack Lenor Larsen's exclusive "Corren...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Armchairs

Materials

Fabric, Plastic

Pair of "Maralunga" Sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, 1973
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in 'S-GRAVENHAGE, NL
With these beautiful cognac leather pair of Maralunga sofa's you will definitely spice up your interior. This famous design was conceived by Vic...
Category

Early 2000s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas

Materials

Leather

Set of Two Maralunga Black Leather Armchairs by Vico Magistretti
By Vico Magistretti
Located in Roma, IT
Set of two vintage Maralunga armchairs in black leather finish. These iconic series were awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1973 and are still part of the MOMA's permanent collection tod...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs

Materials

Leather

Maralunga 3-Seat Sofa in Red Fabrics by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, Italy
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Halle, DE
Maralunga 3-seater sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, designed in 1973. This sofa features folding back rests / cushions that can be folded dow...
Category

Early 2000s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas

Materials

Fabric

Pastel Striped Maralunga Sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Izegem, VWV
This two-seater Maralunga is executed in a pastel striped upholstery which gives it a cool eighties vibe.
Category

Late 20th Century Italian Space Age Sofas

Materials

Fabric

Cassina Maralunga 3 Seat Sofa in patinated red brown Leather by Vico Magistretti
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Halle, DE
Maralunga 3-seat Sofa, designed 1973 by Vico Magistretti for Cassina. This sofa features folding back rests cushions that can be folded down, or f...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas

Materials

Leather

Pair of Maralunga Sofas by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, Italy, 1970s
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Roma, IT
Pair of Maralunga sofas is an original and iconic design item designed by Vico Magistretti for Cassina. Yellow leather sofa. Dimensions: ...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Armchairs

Materials

Metal

Maralunga Sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, Dark Brown Leather
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in London, GB
There is very little point asking us how we feel about the Maralunga because we will always source one when we can. This vintage Italian sofa is an example of what happens when a designer and a maker who were prepared to take a risk combine to make something different. And we’d argue it paid off. Each seat back can be unfolded to provide more support for your neck or just to create a really cool sculptural look. You probably know we’re all about that. We’ve restored the original leather of this vintage Cassina...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Sofas

Materials

Leather

Vico Magisretti 'Maralunga' Suite of Sofas and Armchairs for Cassina
By Vico Magistretti
Located in London, GB
A suite of sofas and armchairs by Italian Designer Vico Magistretti for Cassina. Italy, designed in 1970s, this model likely c1990-2000s. Original leather, which has some signs of light aging but remains in good condition. A unique headrest solution from the designer to these chairs is that it can be 'unfurled' to a taller position for comfort. Price is for the set. Two three...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Living Room Sets

Materials

Leather

Vico Magistretti Maralunga Italian Midcentury Armchair from the Seventies
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in bari, IT
A classic of Italian design armchair and footrest (ottoman) in the original velvet by vico Magistretti model Maralunga for Cassina. Born into a middle-class Milanese family on October 6, 1920, Vico Magistretti attended the R. Liceo Ginnasio Giuseppe Parini and then enrolled, in the fall of 1939, in the Faculty of Architecture at the Regio Politecnico di Milano, where such prominent figures in the architectural scene of the time as Gio Ponti and Piero Portaluppi taught. Between 1943 and 1944 he decided, like many intellectuals of the time, to leave his country and moved to Switzerland where, at the Champ Universitarie Italien in Lausanne, he was able to take some academic courses. His association with Ernesto Nathan Rogers, who will remain in the architect's memory as a key person in his intellectual formation, dates back to that period. The particular attention paid to the theme of the home and living ended up monopolizing, starting in the 1960s, his activity as an architect, causing him to develop an extremely expressive language that, although sometimes polemically criticized, has much hold in the Lombard architectural culture of the period, allowing him to become one of its major protagonists. His participation in 1959 at the CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne) Congress in Otterlo (Netherlands), where the Italians presented BBPR's Velasca tower, Ignazio Gardella's Olivetti canteen, Giancarlo De Carlo's houses in Matera, and Magistretti's Arosio house in Arenzano, built the previous year, was part of this context. These works caused a scandal and were in a sense emblematic of the crisis that struck the well-known institution in those years, until then the undisputed protagonist of the debate around architecture. The Arosio house seems to mark the beginning of a very personal exploration of a language that is also expressed with sharpness in other coeval single-family houses such as the Schubert villa in Ello (1960), the Gardella house in Arenzano (1963-64) and the Bassetti villa in Azzate (1960-62). In the following years, his work as an architect increasingly went side by side with his work as a designer, designing furniture and objects that remained "classic." For the Lombard architect, simplicity was not lack of decoration but absence of redundancy, in the belief that the 'difference' consisted in conceptual detail: hence his predilection for 'concept design' visible in almost all his production. This was the era of the Town Hall in Cusano Milanino (1966-69), the Milan-San Felice district (1966-69, with Luigi Caccia Dominioni), the house in Piazza San Marco (1969-71) but also the Compasso d'oro award for the Eclisse lamp...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs

Materials

Fabric, Velvet

Leather "Maralunga" Three Seat Sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, Italy, 1976
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Antwerp, BE
Iconic design model "Maralunga" three-seater in thick brown original leather with a fantastic comfort. The sofa designed in the seventies by Vico Magistretti and produced by Cassina. The backrests can be raised or lowered for total comfort. This sofa won the Compasso d'Oro award in 1979. It is upholstered with the original thick soft light-brown leather and it is in great condition. It is an original version of the seventies. Labeled.B6. Dimensions: sofa-height 70/100cm-width-228cm-depth-76cm. Cassina was founded in 1927 by Umberto Cassina in the Italian village of Meda. The center for Italian design. In the 1950s, Cassina introduced industrial design to Italy. Cassina managed to attract the most talented designers such as Le Corbusier, Frank LIoyd Wright and Gerrit Rietveld. This group of designers is called by Cassina I Maestri...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas

Materials

Leather

Vico Magistretti, Maralunga Three Seater Sofa for Cassina, Italian Modern, 1970s
By Vico Magistretti, Cassina
Located in Odense, DK
A fine version of the iconic Maralunga sofa in original vintage fabric. The overall impression of this three seater couch is really good. It will complementary any modern home inter...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas

Materials

Fabric

Maralunga Chair by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, 1970s
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in amstelveen, NL
This Maralunga chair was designed by Vico Magistretti for Cassina in 1973. This is an original version of the seventies. Reupholstered in a taupe bo...
Category

Vintage 1970s European Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs

Materials

Bouclé

"Maralunga" Cognac Leather Sitting Group by Magistretti for Cassina, Italy 1970s
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Geneva, CH
Iconic "Maralunga" cognac leather 3 seater sofa + 1 armchair by Vico Magistretti produced by Cassina, Italy ca. 1970s Perfect condition, signed Cassina under the cushions. Foldable back rests...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Sofas

Materials

Leather

Vico Magistretti Original for Cassina Maralunga Grey Leather Italian Sofa
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Madrid, ES
Maralunga sofa designed by Vico Magistretti (1920-2006) for Cassina in 1973. Magistretti was an Italian Industrial designer and architect. This is an original 1970s version, made of...
Category

Late 20th Century Italian Modern Sofas

Materials

Steel

Two-Seat Maralunga Leather Sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Voorburg, NL
A wonderful Maralunga sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina. This beauty was designed in 1973 and quickly became a design Classic. Its clever design incorporates manipulatable back cu...
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas

Materials

Leather

Cassina Maralunga Ensemble Leather Sofa and 2 Chairs and 1 Ottoman
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Munich, Bavaria
Cassina Modell Maralunga in Mint condition. The condition is like new. It was used only for several months. This set consist a 3-seat Sofa. 2 armchairs und 1 ottoman. The leather...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Sofas

Materials

Leather, Upholstery, Foam

Maralunga two-seater by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, Italy 1970s.
By Vico Magistretti, Cassina
Located in Antwerp, BE
Maralunga two-seater by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, Italy 1970s. This loveseat features the original velvet upholstery and still remains in a very well presented condition. This so...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Loveseats

Materials

Velvet

Cassina Maralunga Leather Armchair with Ottoman by Vico Magistretti
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Ludwigslust, DE
This dark brown Maralunga from the 1970s is in very good condition. The leather only shows the usual signs of wear and tear on the armrests, the joints of the backrest are stable and...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs

Materials

Leather

Cassina Maralunga 2 Seater Leather Sofa by Vico Magistretti
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Ludwigslust, DE
The Maralunga sofa is upholstered in a dark brown leather and is in very good condition. The leather is soft and only shows a slight age patina on one seat cushion. The joints of the...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas

Materials

Leather

20th Century Maralunga Sofa in Original Vintage Fabric by Vico Magistretti
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent
A large 3-seater “675 Maralunga” sofa in original vintage fabric. The Maralunga sofa was designed by Vico Magistretti in the early 1970s for Cassina. Cosy and adaptable, the ever cool sofa...
Category

20th Century Italian Sofas

Materials

Fabric

Leather Maralunga sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in HEVERLEE, BE
Vintage black leather maralunga sofa designed by Vico Magistretti for Cassina in 1973. Iconic design sofa with a timeless look. The ...
Category

Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas

Materials

Leather

"Maralunga" 3 Sofa by Vico Magistretti for Cassina, 1973
By Vico Magistretti
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The "Maralunga" was designed by Vico Magistretti and produced by Cassina in 1973. It is characterized by its signature, adjustable headrests and armrests. This sofa is very versatile. Though it has a low profile in its resting state, its headrests can be lifted up to give allow you to relax into the seat. The backrest is curved by an internal mechanism, much like a bicycle chain...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Post-Modern Sofas

Materials

Bouclé

Mid Century Modern "Maralunga" Brown leather Armchair by Vico Magistretti,
By Cassina, Vico Magistretti
Located in Brussels , BE
Mid Century Modern "Maralunga" Brown leather Armchair by Vico Magistretti, Cassina
Category

Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs

Materials

Leather

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