Highboard ARCO Arredamenti Metallici Serie by Studio BBPR for Olivetti, 1963

The Olivetti Valentine is a portable, mechanical, travel typewriter that was manufactured by the Italian company Olivetti from 1969 to 2000. It is known for its unconventional design...

Since 1959 Yrjö Kukkapuro worked from his own studio, researching and developing ergonomic seating furniture in particular, which on the one hand often looks very futuristic but on t...

“design is a response to social change“ george nelson said, the director of design with office furniture manufacturer herman miller. economic growth and larger companies lead to rapi...

You may know these easy chairs designed by Paul Geoffroy in the early 1950s for Airborne, France. But you’ve never seen Hermès fabric on these chairs: we decided to go full luxury. W...

Studio BBPR for Olivetti, 'Spazio' sideboard, lacquered steel, faux leather, vinyl, plastic, Italy, design 1959/60, production 1960s In 1954, Olivetti, the Italian office equipment...

Mid-Century sideboard from the "Arco" series by Studio BBPR for Olivetti - Italy 1960s.

Studio BBPR for Olivetti, 'Spazio' sideboard, coated steel, plastic, glass, vinyl, Italy, design 1959/60, production, 1960s. In 1954, Olivetti, the Italian office equipment manufact...

Studio BBPR for Olivetti, 'Spazio' sideboard, coated steel, plastic, vinyl, Italy, design 1959/60, production 1960s In 1954, Olivetti, the Italian office equipment manufacturer, hired BBPR to design their New York showroom on Fifth Avenue and to create their first series of office furniture, called Spazio (1959/60). This line included chairs, shelving, cabinet systems, and desks, just like the one shown here. It won the Compasso d'Oro Award in 1962. The cabinet contains compartments with drawers secured on both sides. The top is furnished with dark brown vinyl which adds a sturdy touch the overall industrial appearance. Studio B.B.P.R. was an Italian architectural partnership founded in Milan in 1932 by Gianluigi Banfi (1910-1945), Lodovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso (1909-2004), Enrico Peressutti (1908-1976) and Ernesto Nathan Rogers (1909-1969) who had studied at the Politecnico di Milano. B.B.P.R. was thus an acronym formed from the first letters of their family names. The architects found each other in their opposition to fascism in Italy in the 1930s and 1940s during Mussolini's autocratic regime. The architects therefore believed in developing a style that would have no references to contemporary politics. During the Second World War, they all joined the resistance. However, Rogers, a Jew, fled to Switzerland and both Belgiojoso and Banfi were deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, where Banfi died in 1945. Despite the immense loss of Banfi, their architectural practice continued in the same name as before after...