Arflex on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Arflex is an Italian company that makes and sells contemporary furniture.
In 1947, after the war, a group of researchers and entrepreneurs began to work on two new upholstering materials,
Official WebsiteOverview of Arflex designs at Liever Interieur
{Dead link, date=October 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Companies based in Lombardy Design companies of Italy Furniture companies of Italy Furniture retailers of the United States Manufacturing companies established in 1948 Italian companies established in 1948 Design companies established in 1948 Italian brands
History
In 1947, after the war, a group of researchers and entrepreneurs began to work on two new upholstering materials, foam rubber
Foam rubber (also known as cellular rubber, sponge rubber, or expanded rubber) refers to rubber that has been manufactured with a foaming agent to create an air-filled matrix structure. Commercial foam rubbers are generally made of synthetic rub ...
and elastic tape made by Pirelli
Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyres ...
, which had a range of possible uses in interior furnishings. They presented the technical specifications of the new products to Marco Zanuso
Marco Zanuso (14 May 1916 – 11 July 2001) was a leading Italian Modernist architect and designer.
Early life
Marco Zanuso was born in Milan (Italy) 14 May 1916. He was one of a group of Italian designers from Milan shaping the internat ...
, who initiated a trial operations programme until 1950.
Between 1951 and 1954, Arflex produced various models of car seat designed by Carlo Barassi
Carlo Barassi (1910-?) was an alpine ski racer from Italy.
Biography
Graduated in engineering in 1933 at the age of 23, he worked for Pirelli. Passionate about skiing, so much so that he was the first Italian in history to have taken part in the ...
using foam rubber and elastic tape, which could replace standard production seats and offer more comfort, with removable covers and adjustable seatbacks. The most successful of the car seats were the "MilleMiglia" and the "Sedile Lettino", a seat that could be turned into a makeshift bed. Both were designed for the Fiat
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
Topolino
''Topolino'' (from the Italian name for Mickey Mouse) is an Italian digest-sized comic series featuring Disney comics. The series has had a long running history, first appearing in 1932 as a comics magazine. It is currently published by Pa ...
.
Zanuso became an influential designer in post-war Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, associated with the ideology of the Modern Movement
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, a ...
. Other designers who contributed to the Arflex range included: Franco Albini
Franco Albini (17 October 1905 – 1 November 1977) was an Italian Neo-Rationalist architect, designer and university instructor in design.
A native of Robbiate, near Milan, Albini obtained his degree in architecture at Politecnico di Milano ...
, Giancarlo De Carlo
Giancarlo De Carlo (12 December 1919 − 4 June 2005) was an Italian architect.
Biography
Giancarlo De Carlo was born in Genoa, Liguria, in 1919. In 1939, he enrolled at the Milan Polytechnic, where he graduated in engineering in 1943. Duri ...
, , Enrico Peressutti, Joe Colombo
Joseph Anthony Colombo Sr. (; June 16, 1923 – May 22, 1978) was the boss of the Colombo crime family, one of the Five Families of the American Mafia in New York City.
Colombo was born in New York City, where his father was an early member ...
, Ambrogio Casati
Ambrogio Casati (December 27, 1897 – July 19, 1977) was an Italian painter.
He was born in Voghera, Italy in 1897 and was schooled in Paris in the plastic arts. Upon his return to Italy, he became associated with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti a ...
, , Cini Boeri
Cini Boeri (19 June 1924 – 9 September 2020) was an Italian architect and designer.
Career
Boeri earned her degree at the Politecnico di Milano university in 1951. At that time, there were more female interior designers than architects becau ...
, Michele De Lucchi
Michele de Lucchi (born 8 November 1951) is an Italian architect and designer.
Biography
De Lucchi was born in 1951 in Ferrara and graduated in architecture from Florence. During the period of radical and experimental architecture he was a ...
, Ettore Sottsass
Ettore Sottsass (Innsbruck, Austria 14 September 1917 – Milan, Italy 31 December 2007) was a 20th century Italian architect, noted for also designing furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting, home and office wares, as well as numerous buildings an ...
, Marco Piva Marco Piva, Italian architect, interior designer and product designer, born on February 15, 1952, in Milan.
Biography
He graduated in architecture at Politecnico di Milano and founded STUDIODADA in 1977, that was one of the main design offices of ...
, and Pieter De Bruyne.
See also
*List of Italian companies
Italy is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe with the third largest nominal GDP in the Eurozone and the eighth largest in the world. As an advanced economy the country also has the sixth worldwide national wealth and it is ranked third ...
References
External links
Official Website
{Dead link, date=October 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Companies based in Lombardy Design companies of Italy Furniture companies of Italy Furniture retailers of the United States Manufacturing companies established in 1948 Italian companies established in 1948 Design companies established in 1948 Italian brands