Mid Century Modern Model T333 desk by Osvaldo Borsani for Tecno

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About the Item

Model T333 desk produced in 1975 from a design by Osvaldo Borsani and Eugenio Geri and manufctured by Tecno. The top is black lacquered walnut with an inset area of black leather. There are two minimal slim drawers, perfect for storage of pens etc and polished cast aluminium legs. with black trim. Manufacturer's label to side. This large and impressive desk with its minimal, sophisticated design would work well in both a modern or contemporary home. Literature: Giam Piero Bosoni, T Tecno L'eleganza discreta della tecnico, was established in 1953 the twin brothers Osvaldo and Fulgenzio Borsani with the goal of developing their father’s furniture company, Arredamenti Borsani, using the industrial process for the manufacturing of modern furniture. The history of the company goes back to the early 1920s, when woodworker and upholsterer Gaetano Borsani founded Atelier Borsani Varedo (later called Arredamenti Borsani Varedo) in Varedo, Italy. In spite of Arredamenti Borsani’s traditional approach, Osvaldo, designed the modernist Casa Minima furniture collection, while still attending architecture school at Accademia di Brera, and he won the silver medal at the V Triennale di Milano in 1933. Osvaldo’s ongoing involvement at the atelier continued to grow as he designed and built modernist furniture for the wealthy Milanese society. In 1954, a year after Tecno’s founding, the company unveiled its first factory-produced collection of sofas, chairs and tables and received accolades at the X Triennale di Milano. That same year, Osvaldo created the adjustable D70 sofa bed, which became an instant commercial success, and in 1956 he launched the P40 lounge chair, an adjustable reclining chair with a built-in footrest. We have an example of this chair in stock. Both the D70 sofa bed and the P40 lounge chair symbolized a golden age of Italian modernist design. After the company’s first big commission to design office furniture for Eni, an Italian oil and gas company, Tecno became internationally known for designs based on advanced technology. At the XIV Triennale di Milano in 1968, Osvaldo, in collaboration with Eugenio Gerli, introduced the revolutionary modular Graphis office system. This modular office furniture allowed for numerous customizable combinations and became a long-lasting commercial success for Tecno’s corporate clients. In 1970, Osvaldo’s son-in-law Marco Fantoni took a larger role in the company, and Tecno created the Centro Progetti Tecno as an in-house team dedicated to the idea “that future designs should be presented as group creations, with a clear and easily identifiable communication style.” This enterprise-centric approach resulted in Tecno’s launch of the Modus office chair, which won the SMAU Torino prize in 1973 and the Compasso d’Oro in 1984; the Waiting System, a modular table and seating system, in 1983; and the rebranding of Alitalia (Italian national airline of the time) in the 1984. Since 2010, Tecno has been led by Giuliano Masconi and has continued bringing to market new furniture designs, partnered with a large roster of Italian and international architects and designers to create broad and custom-based furnishing solutions for the office, public, and residential sectors. On March 2017, Tecno announced that it would become the majority shareholder of Italian furniture manufacturer Zanotta as a way to continue expanding its international reach and its product line. Today, many Tecno products can be found in the collections of leading museums around the world such as Triennale di Milano, Pompidou Centre in Paris, MoMA in New York City, Neue Sammlung in Monaco, Museum of Decorative Arts in Montreal, and Victoria and Albert in London

Creator:
Tecno (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 27.96 in (71 cm)Width: 78.75 in (200 cm)Depth: 39.38 in (100 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Metal
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
1970-1979
Date of Manufacture:
1975
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU985635285602

Shop All Tecno

Tecno

From his early start at his father’s boutique furniture and cabinetry atelier — Arredamenti Borsani (ABV) — Italian designer Osvaldo Borsani began to steadily dream to life the movement-inducing pieces that would eventually lead to him founding his innovative furniture company, Tecno, with his twin brother, Fulgenzio.

Born in the commune of Varedo in northern Italy’s Lombardy region, Borsani studied at the Brera Academy in Milan — the same school attended by such luminaries as designer Piero Fornasetti and artist Lucio Fontana — as well as the Polytechnic University of Milan. He first worked for the family furniture-making firm, ABV, an atelier influenced by the more expressive and curvaceous wing of Art Deco design. Borsani took over Arredamenti Borsani in 1937.

With his stylish and technically innovative furniture, Borsani helped change the face of Italian design in the 1950s and ’60s. His sofas and chairs, featuring deeply upholstered seating and adjustable position settings, have an aura of optimism and efficiency that still seems fresh and lively today.

While he is today recognized as a master of mid-century modernist Italian furniture, Borsani is most famous these days for cofounding Tecno. (He and Fulgenzio also created Villa Borsani, a visionary mid-century estate cherished for its modern lines and exquisite custom furnishings.)

When Borsani opened Tecno, an office-focused maker of industrial design, his design sensibilities had evolved toward furnishings with strong, simple forms enhanced by mechanical innovations, as with the P40 adjustable armchair.

When they were originally released, Tecno pieces like the P40 and the award-winning D70 sofa bed were acclaimed as cutting-edge, and they are still considered groundbreaking in their adaptability and functionality. The firm quickly garnered widespread acclaim for its tech-forward designs and quality craftsmanship.

Borsani would be Tecno’s lead designer for 30 years, while partnering on projects with the likes of architect Eugenio Gerli and fostering work by Vico Magistretti, Carlo De Carli, Robin Day and others.

Borsani designed pieces for Tecno until shortly before his death in 1985, when his daughter Valeria and her husband, Marco Fantoni, took over the creative work.

Today, the family’s legacy is preserved by Borsani’s architect grandson Tommaso Fantoni, who, along with Norman Foster, curated a blockbuster retrospective of Osvaldo Borsani’s work at Milan’s Triennale Design Museum in 2018.

Find vintage Tecno chairs, tables, desks and other furniture on 1stDibs.

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