'Hyaline' armchairs in light pink suède by Fabio Lenci for Stendig, 1960s

Italian designer Fabio Lenci’s bold Space Age furniture exudes a spirit of adventure and playfulness. Experimenting with plexiglass for the framework of his famous Hyaline lounge chairs and sofas, for instance, he made seating that creates the illusion of a sitter suspended in the air.

Lenci was born in 1935 in Rome, where his father was an industrial manufacturer. He initially entered the Italian Air Force and later pursued decorating and product design. Lenci’s career took shape in 1962 and he quickly made a name for himself, winning the Trieste award in 1965 for his innovative kitchen design.

In the late 1960s, and throughout the ’70s, Lenci collaborated extensively with Bernini and Italian lighting company Guzzini. The latter partnership produced an array of more than 400 pendants, floor lamps, table lamps and other fixtures that look like lighting from the future.

In 2016, Lenci received the prestigious Compasso d'Oro award for a lifetime of forward-looking design. His pieces are found in museums throughout the world, including a Chain armchair in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He has created hundreds of products over the course of his career and continues to design out of his studio in Rome, and his work is celebrated by critics and collectors everywhere. 

On 1stDibs, explore Fabio Lenci’s futuristic tables, seating and lighting.

Stendig Co. played a pivotal role in introducing modern European furniture to the American market, thanks to the business acumen of founder Charles Stendig.

Around 1950, the Brooklyn, New York–born Stendig (1924–2024) worked for Raymor, a purveyor of modern china and accessories that is best known for distributing designer Russel Wright’s American Modern line of ceramics. While at Raymor, Stendig focused on the company’s less popular pieces that were made in Italy and Scandinavia, recognizing their potential for the American market. In 1955, he left the company and decided to establish Stendig Co.

That year, a chance encounter with a Finnish trade representative led him to furniture company Asko — one of the largest companies operating in Scandinavia. Asko invited him and Joseph Carreiro, a professor at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts), to help refine their designs.

At Asko’s production facility in Finland, Stendig met several renowned Finnish designers such as Ilmari Tapiovaara, Tapio Wirkkala and Eero Aarnio, the iconic Ball chair creator. Stendig’s trip there was a success, and Stendig Co. began importing Finnish furniture to the United States.

In 1956, the first Stendig Co. showroom opened in Manhattan. A year later, during a trip to Zurich, Stendig came across a Bauhaus–inspired furniture store featuring pieces by Swiss designers Kurt Thut, Hans Eichenberger and Robert Haussmann, the store’s co-owner. Following a meeting with Haussmann, Stendig became the retailer’s exclusive U.S. distributor.

Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, Stendig Co. imported and sold furniture from influential European designers, including Swiss designer Bruno Rey, Italian architect and industrial designer Vico Magistretti and Hungarian-American architect and designer Marcel Breuer, creator of the Wassily lounge chair.

By the late 1960s, Stendig Co. moved its headquarters to an expansive space on Manhattan’s East Side and opened showrooms in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, each home to the company’s striking collection of mid-century European armchairs, sofas, dining room chairs, coffee tables and other furnishings. Stendig’s founder was by then representing Italian manufacturers Poltronova and Gufram and bringing revolutionary works of Italian Radical design to American shores.

In 1971, Charles Stendig sold the company to Burlington Industries. He retired in 1976. Today Stendig’s European imports are coveted by interior designers and vintage furniture collectors, and he will be forever known as the man who introduced modern European design to the United States.

Find a range of vintage Stendig Co. furniture on 1stDibs.