An archetypal chair: the Luisa armchair by Franco Albini

Its identification number is 832. For everyone, however, it is a familiar design object : it is the Luisa chair designed by one of the most important Italian designers and architects of the 20th century, Franco Albini (Robbiate, 1905 - Milan, 1977). It could be said that the Luisa chair (in full, the “832 Luisa chair”), has had several lives, because several were its editions, that is, five in all: in fact, the first one in 1939 was followed by other editions in 1942, 1949, 1950 and 1954, and finally in 2008 the fifth edition was again put into production by Cassina SpA , which took over the last version, which in the 1950s was produced by the Poggi joinery in Pavia (and which moreover won the Compasso d’Oro in 1955). Only in the last edition, moreover, did the chair take the name “Luisa,” who was Albini’s assistant at the time and the wife of his collaborator Gino Colombini.

The Luisa chair is one of Franco Albini’s best-known works, able to stand out for its elegant, simple and essential design, which is notable for its geometric, square, clean lines built with regular, straight solids, typical of Albini’s objects and buildings. In fact, the architect’s aim was to create a sort of archetypal chair, emphasizing, through the juxtaposition of volumes and colors, the difference between the structure and the seat (and to further highlight this aspect, it will be noted that the volumes are broken: the backrest is in fact not joined to the seat). It is therefore an apparent simplicity, as scholar Silvana Annicchiarico pointed out, “The formal purity that is evident from the discontinuity of the parts is an expression of a privileged attention granted to the joints and points of connection. The joints, made with the help of screws or interlocking, fix the geometric relationships between the components, and determine the sections of the wood that increase in view of the attachments, where there is more stress to bear.” Luisa was also designed with shapes that could adapt to various rooms in the home. Indeed, one of the distinguishing features of the Luisa chair is its versatility. Thanks to its geometric design and sturdy construction, it can be used in a variety of situations, from dining rooms to meeting rooms, cafes to restaurants. Ultimately, the possibility of easily mass-producing the chair was also taken into account at the design stage.

As for the frame, Albini wanted to make a clear distinction between the frame and the seat: the frame is made of wood (with three variants: natural ash, black-stained ash, and Canaletto walnut), while the seat and back have a steel frame with elastic straps and polyurethane foam padding, cold-foamed and covered with fabric or leather in different colors (from gray to red, green to blue via white, almost always bright and bright tones in opposition therefore to the colors of the frame).

“The Luisa armchair,” Cassina explains, “was born from a fifteen-year research path, focused on the creation of an archetype that could identify the essential elements of the chair and its possible uses within the home. An ideal model, in which Franco Albini expresses the poetics of ’substance in form’ by increasing the thickness of the individual wooden elements at the points of junction between the parts. After several refinements, the final version, presented in 1955, earned the author the Compasso D’Oro ADI award. The structure represents a formal synthesis in which the seat and back consist of two geometric planes suspended on a thin wooden frame with trestle sides. Luisa is a timeless object made of pure technique and matter.”

The first edition of the chair, which included supports on both the front and the outside, had been produced (in curved glued wood) to furnish Villa Pestarini, built in Milan in 1938, one of the most interesting buildings of Italian rationalism. The second was produced by the Saffa company, the third by AR.AR., and the fourth was designed for Knoll. It was at the very end of the 1940s that Albini focused on the joints to strengthen them thus making the chair even more essential than when it was designed. In fact, the last version of the chair includes only four screws since it is almost all made with joints that thus constitute the most important element of the trestle scheme that gives shape to the Luisa chair, with the sides joined together by crossbars (the rear one supports the backrest which, free, allows a balancing movement). The fifth edition, as anticipated, guaranteed Albini the Compasso d’Oro: “The Jury, faced with the remarkable production presented this year in the field of chairs and armchairs,” reads the motivation, “recognized at the end of the discussion the interest and the level of the problem raised by the chair designed by arch. Albini, both for the elementary solution of the leg-armrest-back connection, and for, the formal organicity of the material grafts, the visible joints, and the production problems connected with the whole conception of the structure. With the awarding of the ’La Rinascente Compasso d’oro 1955’ prize, in addition to affirming the ingenuity and conceptual property of the technical aesthetic solutions intrinsic to the object presented, and in addition to pointing out the constancy and commitment that the designer has been placing for years in continually modifying and revising his work, it is also intended to propose to Italian manufacturers and the public the problems that Albini’s chair raises.”

Franco Albini’s work has been among the most recognized in the world of design and architecture for its attention to detail, functionality and aesthetics. The Luisa chair, which has become part of important collections such as that of MoMA in New York or the Design Museum at the Milan Triennale, is an emblematic example of his ability to create design pieces that combine form and function in an elegant way. And it is now a great classic of Italian design that continues to be appreciated and used all over the world.

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.