As part of the sale dedicated to design on Thursday May 28th 2020, PIASA auction house offers collectors a desk and a series of twelve chairs designed by Franco Albini in the mid-1950s.
Franco Albini graduated in architecture from the Milan Polytechnic in 1929. The young man began his career working alongside one of the most emblematic figures of Italian design, Gio Ponti. The Milan Triennial allowed him to show his pieces for the first time. In 1930, he becomes self-employed. His furniture is a perfect example of the combination of modern design and traditional craftsmanship.
This seems to be one of the characteristics of this aesthetic modernity rooted in the formal vocabulary of past times. In a rigorously minimalist approach, the materials used by the designer are generally cheap or even completely raw. A few months before the outbreak of the Second World War, Franco Albini achieved his first success by designing a radio made entirely of glass. The separation between inside and outside evaporated. The creator multiplied the flagship pieces such as the Margherita and Gala rattan armchairs in 1950, then the so-called "Fiorenza" for the Artflex company.
From the beginning of the 1960s, he envisaged an additional field of expertise by working for industrial design. He carried out large-scale architectural projects, including the Rinascente Building in the Italian capital and, in 1963, several stations of the Milanese underground. Having just exhibited the television set he had designed for Brionvega at the Milan Triennale, Franco Albini created a series of lamps and luminaires for the famous company Arteluce in 1964.
Franco Albini (1905-1977)
Model 840, Stadera
Desk
Wood, metal and aluminum
Poggi Edition
Date of creation : 1954
H76×L143,5×P83cm
The "Model 840, Stadera" desk was designed by the designer in 1954. Supported by an aluminium base, the wooden surface forms a right angle. Faithfully illustrating the designer's virtuosity, it is offered for sale with an estimate of between 15,000 and 20,000 euros.
Franco Albini (1905-1977)
Luisa
Set of twelve armchairs
Wood, metal and fabric
Cassina Edition
Date of creation: circa 1955
H75,5 × L54,5 × P56cm
Produced a year later, the series of twelve chairs testifies to the great sobriety of Franco Albini's aesthetics. Published by Cassina, it is estimated at between 8,000 and 12,000 euros. Franco Albini's work is not only distinguished by its modernity, often avant-garde, but also by the diversity of its proposals. For example, as an interior designer, he is the author of a Zanini fur shop in Milan and the museographic design of the San Lorenzo treasure in Genoa.
