cassina

A highlight of Cassina’s catalogue since 1957, the Superleggera represents the perfect outcome between the creative imagination of the architect Gio Ponti, and Cassina’s manufacturing excellence, an undisputed icon that is both of-the-moment and pays tribute to traditional artisanal skills. Superleggera demonstrates the constructive prowess of the MedaMade craftsmen: the challenge they faced, of making an extra-light chair, was overcome with the Superleggera’s legs having a cross-section of just eighteen millimetres, the whole weighing a mere 1,700 grams! While the frame exploits the inherent lightness and flexibility of ashwood, the seat surround is in beech, which is more close-grained and stronger. The wood parts are created by machine, and hand-finished, glue being applied with a brush, the excess being wiped off, and the seat being hand-woven. Thus do crafts expertise and industrial innovation come together in what we could call a “prime object”, informed by the chair-making traditions of Chiavari, in Liguria, northern Italy. The Superleggera is available both in the classic version or with coloured legs, as well as with a padded seat.

“This was a new kind of chair, constructed totally out of leather, much cloned since then.” Thus Mario Bellini describes Cab, a best-seller that he designed in the 1970s, which is now a signature piece in Cassina’s I Contemporanei collection. Cab was the first-ever chair to feature a free-standing leather structure, inspired by how our skin fits over our skeleton. They undergo fourteen discrete procedures, again by hand. The pieces are sewn together only when their outer edges have been trimmed to ensure a perfect fit. Once assembled, the cover is attached to the chair’s steel skeleton and held in place by means of a zipper fastening, as in a bespoke tailored garment. Today this model adapts and expands to meet contemporary needs. It is now available an XL model, 5 cm deeper and 4 cm larger. Also available are new Plus saddle leathers in pure aniline, and some versions with a gradient effect by hand on a natural basis.

Additional Information

The small armchair is very evocative and strongly references 1970s design. Dudet is a small architecture defined by three individual padded elements: a seat cushion and two tubes that fluidly design its legs, armrests and backrest in a continuous line. The soft and comfortable appearance of the Dudet armchair strikes immediately and, under its welcoming curves, it has a conscious soul thanks to the fact that its elements can be easily disassembled. An innovative system that, with a view to circularity, allows its metal core to be separated from the polyurethane foam padding made with a percentage of polyols deriving from biological sources. This facilitates both the disposal of the separate pieces and the recycling of its noble materials like its steel core.