Gianfranco Frattini is widely regarded as a mid-century master of Italian modern design. He was an award-winning architect and designer, and specialized in creating furniture and decor that is both decorative and practical — Frattini’s vintage desks, armchairs, nesting tables and other works are celebrated for their sophisticated merging of function and form.
Born in Padua in 1926, Frattini studied architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan. He later apprenticed with his teacher and mentor, Gio Ponti. Through Ponti — arguably the most important figure in 20th-century Italian architecture and design — Frattini met many notable modernist designers such as Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier, but an introduction to famed Italian entrepreneur Cesare Cassina would prove incredibly significant in helping launch his career.
During the mid-1950s, Frattini began to collaborate with Cassina’s eponymous company. He designed the brand’s acclaimed leather and walnut Model 849 lounge chair — a winner of the Compasso d’Oro award — the Marema nesting tables and the iconic Sesann collection. The latter, an enduring 1970s suite of impossibly welcoming leather-covered seating, is now produced by Tacchini. In addition to Cassina, Frattini created furniture and lighting for other manufacturers such as Bernini, Arteluce, Artemide, Knoll and more.
While many of his designs incorporate glass, tubular steel and other materials, Frattini loved working with wood. The sculptural Albero bookcase — an innovative floor-to-ceiling structure made in walnut that swings on a 360-degree vertical swivel axis — is a striking example of Frattini’s dedication to traditional woodworking techniques. In the early 1970s, he traveled to Japan with friend and collaborator Pierluigi Ghianda — a master Milanese cabinet maker — in order to study the work of artisans in Kyoto. The trip inspired his design of the Kyoto table, a work of solid beech with Canaletto walnut inserts that is part of the permanent collection of the Milan Triennale’s Design Museum. The Kyoto and Albero have been revived by Poltrona Frau.
Frattini’s designs are in the permanent collections of prestigious museums such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
Find vintage Gianfranco Frattini furniture, lighting and decor on 1stDibs.
Franco Albini by Marco Albini (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
Catalogue of the exhibition dedicated to the creations (armchairs, desks, shelves, lighting, etc.) of Franco Albini, Italian architect and designer (1905-1977). Galerie du Passage (P...
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$1,200 / set
H 16 in W 10.5 in D 2.63 in
Repertorio del Design Italiano 1950-2000 by Guiliana Gramigna (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
A 2 volume set of hardback books in a slip case which covers Italian domestic furniture design in the second half of the 20th century. Volume 1 covers 1950-1979, with 269 pages and hundreds of black and white photographs of tables, chairs, other furniture and lighting. Volume 2 covers 1980-2000. 345 pages again having hundreds of black and white photographs of Italian...
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Il Design Italiano Degli Anni '50 (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
Edited by Andrea Branzi & Michele De Lucchi This book is a photographic record of an exhibition which was organised in 1977 to showcase "Italian Design in the Fifties", all manner o...
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1950/1980 Repertory by Giuliana Gramigna (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
There are numerous books available today on the history of Italian design, but unlike other research areas where the material is gathered together systematically in chronological ord...
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[1st ed] Il Mobili Italiano Degli Anni '40 e '50
Located in New York, NY
Single volume survey of high-end Italian mid-century furniture design. Published in 1992 by Editori Laterza with introductory and biographical text in Italian by Irene de Guttry and ...
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Il Mobile Italiano Degli Anni 40 e 50 by Irene de Guttry (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
By Irene de Guttry & Maria Paola Maino From the fascinating "animal" creations by Carlo Mollino, to the refined and aerodynamic furniture by Carlo De Carli, Ico Parisi and Gio Ponti,...
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Design 1935-1965: What Modern Was Edited by Martin Eidelberg (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
This book offers a unique perspective on the decorative arts of the mid-twentieth century. The first serious book on a period just beginning to be researched by scholars and little k...
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$375
H 9.63 in W 7.88 in D 1.13 in
Il Mobile Deco Italiano by Irene de Guttry & Maria Paola Maino (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
For too long forgotten because it was identified with the contemporary political regime, Italian furniture from the 1920s and 1930s re...
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Ugo La Pietra: Introductions
By Ugo La Pietra
Located in New York, NY
First edition monograph on the noted Italian postmodernist artist, architect, designer and educator Ugo La Pietra, proponent of Italian Radical Design and founding member in 1973 of ...
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Design Francais 1960 - 1990, Trois Decennies (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
French design from the early Sixties to the late Eighties. This is a journey through time which shows specifically three decades of French design. This is an exhibition held in the G...
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