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Franco Albini Bonacina Mid Century Margherita Chair & Coffee Table- 2 Pieces

About the Item

The "Margherita chair" by Franco Albini is one of the most notable pieces of furniture created by the Lombard architect and designer Franco Albini in the 1950s. He partnered with Franca Helg for various projects in years. Albini’s inspiration in creating the chair is to suspend things and people in the air. Since it is a wooden, rattan and reed chair, a garden is the perfect setting for it. Just after a year of its creation, Margherita chair won first place at the 9th Milan Triennale. Moreover, MoMA in New York City, the Museum of Art in Philadelphia, and the Triennale Design Museum in Milan showcased this beautiful and stunning wooden chair. The name ‘Margherita’ is an Italian word meaning “daisy.” Moreover, the rattan and reed structure will give anyone who sits on it the confidence. It helps abandon every thought to the suspension of a dream or a break from reality. Franco Albini designed this wooden chair for Vittorio Bonacina. Albini’s furniture mostly features a traditional Italian craftsmanship practice with minimal concepts of design. He is famous for using artisanal materials such as woven cane for most seminal works, such as the Margherita and Gala chairs. Moreover, he used a modern aesthetic to the design and construction of his products, which is evident especially to the Margherita chair. With the combination of Albini’s pure talent and training under the apprenticeship of famed Italian furniture designer Gio Ponti, Albini slowly grew as an artist. He carefully developed objects and other designs with usability and style. This fun and aesthetically appealing design is perfect for a modern, bohemian, eclectic, or folk style home. The matching Franco Albini coffee table is an original 1950s modern rattan coffee table with the original glass top. This table has iconic Albini lines, the unique design offers storage for magazines or books. Table alone is priced elsewhere for $1200-$2600. Sold here with the chair, as a set Additional information: Materials: Glass, Rattan, Reed Color: Brown Style: Danish Modern Item Type: Vintage, Antique or Pre-owned Number of Seat: 1 Brand: Franco Albini Designer: Franco Albini Period: 1950s Dimensions: Chair: 31.5 W × 29.93 D × 39.38 H in; Seat Height: 12 in Table: 29.62 W x 29.62 D x 14.38 H in Glass: 29.62" Ø x 0.375" thick Condition: Good Condition, Original Condition Unaltered, Some Imperfections Condition Notes: In very good vintage condition, very comfortable! Light wear, expected for a chair and table of this age. Glass table top has some minor scratches to be expected for age, does not take away from the piece. Our chair still offers a lovely vintage patina. The original seat cushion also features a vintage textile. It can be updated at the buyer's request with our upholsterer. It is certainly incredible in the fully original condition, completely intact

Creator:
Franco Albini (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 39.38 in (100.03 cm)Width: 31.5 in (80.01 cm)Depth: 29.93 in (76.03 cm)Seat Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 2
Materials and Techniques:
Rattan
Period:
20th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1950s
Condition:
Unaltered, Some Imperfections. In very good vintage condition, very comfortable! Light wear, expected for a chair and table of this age. Glass table top has some minor scratches to be expected for age, does not take away from the piece.
Seller Location:
Basel, CH
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU7344231708202
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Franco Albini

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.

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