Mohair Coffee and Cocktail Tables

An older Classic George Smith Tufted ottoman custom upholstered in a Cocoa Mohair. The top button tufted, raised on square tapering stained hardwoo...

Fabulous and super rare pair of 'Regolo' solid pine wood lounge chairs with mohair upholstery complete with matching 'regolo' pine wood coffee table designed by GianFranco Fini for Poltronova, Italy in 1974. One of the chairs still retains it's original 'Poltronova' manufacturer's label. We acquired this pair of lounge chairs (along with a matching three seat 'regolo' sofa and the coffee table) from a private residence in Prato, Italy, they were bought new, as a set, in 1975 by the seller's father, we have a few photos of this set taken in situ before removal for provenance. Fini's 'Regolo' range of lounge chairs, sofas, coffee table and storage units are extremely rare and were handcrafted to order in solid Russian pine wood by Poltronova's artisans for a very short period and therefore very few were realized and are super rare today,, the lounge chairs are particularly rare. These are the first pair of Fini 'regolo' lounge chairs that we have managed to lay our hands on, in fact we have not seen any Fini lounge chairs on the market before, previously we had only ever seen them illustrated in old 1970s Poltronova adverts and in a feature article on the fabulous De Medici 'villa di Cerretino' published in the July 1978 issue of 'Casa Vogue' which illustrates two pairs of Fini 'regolo' lounge chairs and a matching four seat sofa amongst a plethora of 1960s contemporary art, see black and white photos, images 6 and 7.. Each chair features integral storage space for books, magazines and objects beneath each armrest. The upholstery on both chairs has been completely renovated including new foam throughout and are finished in superb high quality 'Musco' mohair fabric by 'De Ploeg' which is extremely hard wearing with a 200,000 Martindale rating. We have kept original photos of the chairs with their original cushions in place for provenance. Fini's 'regolo' coffee table, made from solid pinewood complete with the original glass top, has an elegant sculptural grid form reminding me of Sol Lewitt's artworks and especially the pine wood sculptures of Italian artist Mario Ceroli, with plenty of storage available for books, magazines, etc. Interestingly there is also a resemblance in structure and form to some of Donald Judd's wooden furniture designs of the 1980s. The influence of Mario Ceroli's pine wood sculptures can clearly be seen in the form of Fini's 'regolo' range. Fini and Ceroli were close friends and co-designed a joint collaborative installation exhibited at the 1975 Venice Biennale the year after the 'regolo' sofa was designed. Fini and Ceroli also collaborated together on various scenographic projects such as the theatre set for the production 'Norma' held ar the Scala theatre in Milan in 1972. Fini had earlier worked as both an artist and architect in Rome during the early 1960s-early 1970s period. In the early to mid-1960s he was mainly working as an artist in Rome where he held one man exhibitions at several of Romes most prestigious art galleries culminating in him exhibiting his steel 'L.E.A' sculpture (see image 19) at the Rome Biennale in 1968, the L.E.A was almost a precursor in form to his famous 'programma' stainless steel light sculpture designed for 'new lamp' in 1970. He is best known for his series of superlative hand crafted light sculptures that he designed for the Italian lighting company 'New lamp', showing influences such as the minimalist art of Max Bill and the Italian 'arte programmata' and kinetic art movements of the 1960s, Fini's lamps have become some of the most valuable and sought after Italian lighting of the entire mid century period . Please see IMAGE 20 which illustrates a few of Fini's other designs, the 'monade' chair , the 'Programma' light sculpture, the 'Quasar' light sculpture , the 'Interior' light sculpture and the 'Quanta' light sculpture' During the late 1960s Fini was part of the artists collective that centred around the community of Nancy Marotta's 'Mana art Market' gallery in Rome which was one of the first ventures to promote design art before the phrase was coined. Nancy, wife of famed Italian artist Gino Marotta, promoted designs mostly handcrafted as multiples, by her close artist friends among them Lucio Fontana, Paolo Scheggi...