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Italian Modern Le Bambole Striped Daybed by Mario Bellini for B&B Italia, 1976

About the Item

This Le Bambole day bed was designed by Mario Bellini in 1972 and manufactured by B&B Italia in 1976. It features a tubular steel structure, polyurethane foam, and a blue and beige striped upholstery (with a particular pattern that gives it a satin effect). It is possible to reupholster it. The design of the Bambole series is the culmination of research into stuffed furniture. The piece is reduced to an archetypical idea of a cushion. The whole concept of this cushion is taken very far, as this piece is defined by the precise geometry of stitches and covers. The entire “Bambole” collection compromised a sofa, daybed, chaise lounge, and bed. The prototypes of this collection were stuffed with a material that was the forerunner of memory foam. Later, to improve comfort, the metal frame that was inside in the beginning, and that was required for support, was removed, and it was filled with the stuffing itself. Le Bambole was awarded the Compasso d’Oro in 1979. Born in Milan in 1935, Mario Bellini graduated in architecture from the Milan Polytechnic in 1959 and set up practice as an architect in the early sixties. His work ranges from urban design and architecture to furnishing and industrial products. Renowned as a designer, in 1963, he began his relationship with Olivetti in charge of industrial design and went on to work with other companies both in Italy and abroad, amongst which Cassina. He won the Compasso d’Oro and other international awards more than once. His work is exhibited in the MoMA collection in New York, which, in 1987, dedicated a personal retrospective exhibition to his work. Since the 1980s, he has worked mainly in the field of architecture all over the world. His most well-known work includes the Portello buildings for the Milan Fair, the conference center of Villa Erba at Como, the extension of the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, and the International Fair of Essen. From 1986 to 1991, he was director of Domus magazine. In 1987, in continuing the work of his studio opened in the 1960s, he founded Mario Bellini Associates, of which he is the president, whose services run from master planning to architecture and the design of stands and sets for exhibitions and museums. In 1996 product and furniture design were transferred to the Bellini Atelier, which he founded with his son Claudio. A winning duo: a mix of independence and interaction. Two generations in one family exchange integrate and confront each other. A special relationship characterized by reciprocal autonomy and by a deep understanding when working on shared projects. A constructive family bond that generates a positive drive enhancing creative energies and managerial skills. Literature: – Morteo, Enrico. Mario Bellini. Furniture, machines and objects. London: Phaidon, 2008, p. 98 – 99. – Graminga, Giuliana. Repertorio del Design Italiano 1950-2000 per L’Arredamento Domestico. Allemandi: Torino, 2003, p. 198.

Creator:
Mario Bellini (Designer),B&B Italia (Manufacturer)
Dimensions:
Height: 29.53 in (75 cm)Width: 70.87 in (180 cm)Depth: 59.06 in (150 cm)
Style:
Post-Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Cotton,Foam
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
1970-1979
Date of Manufacture:
1976
Condition:
Seller Location:
Vicenza, IT
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU8019241223822

Shop All Mario Bellini

Mario Bellini

Milan-born architect and designer Mario Bellini just may be the closest thing to a modern-day Renaissance man: His creative output spans genres, from electronics to furniture to architecture to cars, comprising iconic designs in each. Vintage Mario Bellini sofas, dining chairs and other seating pieces are widely coveted, and the designer has been the recipient of multiple prestigious Compasso d’Oro awards. More than 20 of his works are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

Born in 1935, Bellini studied architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan before founding his own firm in his native city in the early 1960s. He soon branched out beyond architecture, however, first for the tech manufacturer Olivetti, where he served as chief industrial design consultant from 1963 to 1991. During that time, Bellini oversaw the design of some of Olivetti’s most popular typewriters.

His penchant for electronic design didn’t stop there: Bellini also designed cameras for Fuji, televisions for Brionvega and a slew of audio devices for Yamaha, then served as design consultant for Renault and devised the interior of the 1980 Lancia Trevi for Fiat. Meanwhile, his architecture work spans continents, including such modern gems as the Museum of Islamic Arts at the Louvre, the National Gallery of Victoria extension in Melbourne, the Dubai Creek Complex and the Milan Convention Centre in his hometown.

And then there’s the furniture: Over the last 70 years, Bellini has designed office furniture for Vitra; lamps for Artemide, Erco and FLOS; porcelain for Rosenthal and long-admired sofas and other seating for Kartell, Natuzzi, B&B Italia, Cassina and more.

His oft-imitated 1977 Cab chair for Cassina, comprising 16 individual pieces of saddle leather that create a “skin” over a minimal metal frame, remains one of the manufacturer’s best sellers today. His pudgy-legged, round tables for Cassina foreshadow Faye Toogood’s widely loved Roly Poly line. His postmodern Summa armchairs for Kartell, as well as his elegant Chiara floor lamp, still lure collectors on vintage furniture websites.

Bellini’s most famous contribution to furniture design, though, may be his 1970 Camaleonda sofa for B&B Italia (then C&B Italia). An entrant to the 1972 MoMA show “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape,” the seat takes its name from the Italian words for chameleon and wave. Its bulbous, modular form makes it infinitely flexible. The sofa was a runaway hit at the show and, once discontinued, remained so popular among vintage dealers that B&B Italia reissued it in 2020 with all recycled materials and interchangeable seat covers. “Of all the objects I have designed, Camaleonda is perhaps the best in terms of its sense of freedom,” Bellini said.

Browse an expansive collection of vintage Mario Bellini furniture — including dining tables, armchairs, mid-century sofas and more — today on 1stDibs.

Shop All B&B Italia

B&B Italia

In 1966, Piero Ambrogio Busnelli cofounded C&B Italia, a modern Italian furniture manufacturer, with Cesare Cassina in northern Milan. From the outset, Busnelli and Cassina set about recruiting the most talented modernists in Italy to conceive of creative furnishings manufactured in modern ways. In the early 1970s, the company split, with Cassina founding his own eponymous firm and Busnelli taking leadership of what became B&B Italia.

For decades, Busnelli cultivated relationships with the world’s best design talent, resulting in furniture pieces that remain iconic today — be they Gaetano Pesce’s outwardly curvaceous Up seating (made for C&B, reintroduced by B&B) or tables from industrial designer Paolo Piva, each more sophisticated than the next in their geometrically complex steel-tube bases. B&B Italia earned four prestigious Compasso d’Oro design awards: in 1979 for Mario Bellini’s Le Bambole, in 1984 for the Sisamo wardrobe system by Studio Kairos, in 1987 for Antonio Citterio’s modular Sity sofa and, in 1989, the first award given to a manufacturing company itself.

Other notable names who designed for B&B Italia over the course of its 54-year history include Patricia Urquiola, Naoto Fukasawa, Zaha Hadid, Ettore Sottsass and Vincent Van Duysen, to name a very few. And while these names bring star power to the B&B brand, in many cases, it was B&B Italia who helped usher in their celebrity, fostering a wave of design talent on the world stage.

Materials

Cotton, Velvet, Foam, Linen

Mario Bellini Green Linen Camaleonda Modular Sofa for B&B Italia, 1972, Set of 2

$11,631 / set

Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames

Materials

Cotton, Linen, Velvet

Bed of Le Bambole series designed by Mario Bellini for B&b Italia 1972

$17,447

Bamboletto by Mario Bellini for B&B Italia in Cognac Leather 1970s

By Mario Bellini, B&B Italia

Located in Byron Bay, NSW

The "Le Bambole-Bamboletto" daybed a rare edition design by the Italian architect and designer, Mario Bellini. This iconic piece was manufactured by B&B Italia in 1970s. The Bambole series is considered a seminal work of Bellini's, and represents the culmination of his research into stuffed furniture. The daybed features a minimalist design, reduced to an archetypical idea of a cushion. The precise geometry of the stitches and covers define the piece, which was originally stuffed with a material that was the forerunner of memory foam. The metal frame was later removed, improving comfort and allowing the stuffing to support the daybed on its own. C&B Italia was founded in 1973 renamed B&B 1976 and quickly became one of the leading international design companies. Under the leadership of Piero Ambrogio Busnelli, the company cultivated a reputation for supporting up-and-coming talents, such as Mario Bellini and Gaetano Pesce, who went on to become some of the most renowned designers of the 20th century. The Le Bambole daybed...

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