Poltrona Frau is a furniture-maker founded in 1912 by

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

n-born Renzo Frau in

Turin, Italy Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, headquartered since the early 1960s in

Tolentino Tolentino ( Maceratese: ''Tulindì'') is a town and ''comune'' of about 19,000 inhabitants, in the province of Macerata in the Marche region of central Italy. It is located in the middle of the valley of the Chienti. History Signs of the firs ...

and specializing in leather seating for interior and automotive applications. The company name combines , the Italian word for 'armchair', and ''Frau'', the last name of its founder. The company uses a 21-step leather tanning process (vs. industry standard ranging from 12–15 steps) where the full-grain leather is dyed through, so a surface scratch won’t reveal a lining underneath. 95% of the company's products are made by hand. In 2014, United States–based Haworth Group purchased a controlling interest in Poltrona Frau.

Furniture

In 2006, the company marketed a knock down version of its Viking chair at their

SoHo SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

, New York store. Beginning in 2011, the company marketed a sofa designed by French architect and designer Jean-Marie Massaud—called the ''John-John'' sofa, in tribute to

John F. Kennedy Jr. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999), often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., was an American socialite, attorney, magazine publisher, and journalist. He was a son of 35th United States president John F. K ...

—followed in 2012 by the John-John bed. In 2013, the company designed and manufactured 600 seats for the

Arena Corinthians Arena Corinthians, also known as the Neo Química Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a sports stadium located in São Paulo, Brazil. It is owned, operated, and used by the team Corinthians. It has a seating capacity of , making it the fifth-l ...

São Paulo, Brazil SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of Yu ...

, the first time the company produced seats for a football stadium. In 2012, the company held a design competition to celebrate its centenary. The competition was won by British designer

Benjamin Hubert Benjamin Hubert may refer to: * Benjamin F. Hubert, president of Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youth * Benjamin Hubert (designer) Benjamin Hubert (born 11 March 1984) is a British industrial designer and founder of LAYER, a Londo ...

, who designed the Juliet chair.

Transportation seating

In addition to designing seating for yachts, airplanes and helicopters, Poltrona Frau has designed leather interiors for automobiles since 1986, when Lancia asked the company to design and manufacture interiors for their new version 8.32 Thema model. Poltrona Frau has since made interiors from automotive companies ranging from

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian carmaker known for its sports-oriented vehicles, strong auto racing heritage, and iconic design. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, it is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe and one of 14 brands of mu ...

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French automotive industry, manufacturer of high performance vehicle, high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German Empire, German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the ...

Lancia Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe, which is the European subsidiary of Stellantis. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganise ...

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

and

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914 in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

Infiniti (stylized in all caps) is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Nissan. The brand began on November 8, 1989, initially in North America. The marketing network for Infiniti vehicles included dealers in over 50 countries in the 201 ...

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

and

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

. In 2002 the company's leathersmiths created red leather seating and pillions for a special edition of the

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

model of noted Italian motorcycle manufacturer

Moto Guzzi Moto Guzzi () is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer and the oldest European manufacturer in continuous motorcycle production. Established in 1921 in Mandello del Lario, Italy, the company is noted for its historic role in Italy's motorcyclin ...

, in celebration of the company's 80th anniversary.

Museum

To mark its centennial in 2012, the company opened the Poltrona Frau Museum, designed by Italian architect Michele De Lucchi, formerly of the

Memphis Group The Memphis Group, also known as Memphis Milano, was an Italian design and architecture group founded by Ettore Sottsass. It was active from 1980 to 1987. The group designed postmodern furniture, lighting, fabrics, carpets, ceramics, glass and me ...

, at the company's headquarters and production facility in Tolentino. The museum features approximately sixty of the company's furniture pieces, many from the collection of board chairman Franco Moschini, and organizes the company's history and production with examples of furniture, drawings, images and manufacturing materials in a 1400 square meter building under the theme “l’intelligenza delle mani," which translates "intelligence of the hands," or roughly "manual know-how". A primary video gallery highlights a technical glossary of the company: nine hand tools, methods and materials—including the curved needle, nails, horsehair, quilting and the hammer—the tools and materials required to fold, stitch, attach and work leather.

References

External links

* {{Automotive industry in Italy Furniture companies of Italy Leather manufacturers Italian brands Companies based in Tolentino Design companies of Italy Industrial design firms Manufacturing companies established in 1912 Italian companies established in 1912 High fashion brands Museums in Marche Design companies established in 1912

Furniture

Transportation seating

Museum

See also

References

External links