Set of 2 "Gli Abiti" Armchairs by Paolo Nava and Gianfranco Ferrè for B&B Italia

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Set of 2 "Gli Abiti" Armchairs by Paolo Nava and Gianfranco Ferrè for B&B Italia

About the Item

Set of 2 "Gli Abiti" armchairs by Paolo Nava and Gianfranco Ferrè for B&B Italia In 1984 B&B Italia accepted Paolo Nava's proposal to design and produce a series of armchairs and sofas in which the decisive aspect was given by the dressing. Nava, who after a long association with Antonio Citterio began a solo career designing for many other important companies, is passionate about other cultures, music and fashion: the year before he had already designed a chair for Flexform (Eva, 1983) which wears a textile "dress" on a metal and polyurethane structure that gives it its final shape. After a few sartorial attempts by Nava, B&B Italia decides to entrust Gianfranco Ferré with conducting the design experiment, studying "The Dresses" in the summer-winter-evening version, as if they were three collections in one. Ferré, who graduated in architecture at the Milan Polytechnic with the authoritative Franco Albini and a thesis on Methodology of the approach to composition: nothing more serious and modernist for a young architect who, however, soon decides to devote himself solely to fashion, even if clothes that he designs and produces have compositions and constructions that are at least conceptually similar to those of an architecture. Nava then dedicates himself to the design of the structure and the seat that he will be dressed in: he proposes a very linear and simplified design, with the consolidated technique of cold-foamed polyurethane on a metal structure. Ferré studies different variations of cut and materials, in this case quilted satin, with a velvet border stitched with damier, like a collar, eliminating the folds and replacing them with a fall of train fabric. For the presentation of the "collection" a location typically linked to fashion was chosen, the Superstudio in Milan, in an installation by Paolo Paganini with scenographic elements that connect the sensations of the seasons to iridescent materials and lights, and the staging of armchairs they "parade" as on the catwalk. B&B Italia is thus the only furniture industry that has been able (well ahead of its time) to carry forward up to mass production and marketing what has long been only the idea of a possible, stable meeting between fashion and design in real things. The armchairs are in excellent condition, as shown in the photographs, complete with the original certificate of authenticity and description of the assembly of the dress, slightly different colors in the two variants available at the time, thus requested by the previous owner, only a few small signs of wear and a zip that needs to be repaired , which does not affect the aesthetics of the armchair as it is hidden under the fabric and can be easily repaired. Dimensions: L. 84cm D. 108cm H. 78cm A.S. 47cm.

Creator:
B&B Italia (Manufacturer),Paolo Nava (Designer),Gianfranco Ferré (Workshop/Studio)
Dimensions:
Height: 30.71 in (78 cm)Width: 42.52 in (108 cm)Depth: 33.08 in (84 cm)Seat Height: 18.51 in (47 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 2
Style:
Other (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Fabric,Wood
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
1980-1989
Date of Manufacture:
1984
Condition:
tessuti originali.
Seller Location:
Conversano, IT
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU8395234591282

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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.

The company’s forward-thinking vision manifested in its own headquarters, too: In 1972, B&B Italia tapped architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers to design a steel-framed, postmodern-style home for the brand, whose crisscrossing metal exoskeleton is reminiscent of the pair’s Centre Pompidou in Paris, which was built at roughly the same time. Now, B&B Italia manages a contract division and outdoor section as well as its residential arm, and it also controls production for Maxalto, a brand spun out with furniture designs by Antonio Citterio.

At 1stDibs, find a range of vintage B&B Italia furniture — including sofas, cocktail tables and more.