Architect and designer Cesare Lacca is renowned for the modernist furniture he created during the 1950s. Made with materials like teak, glass and brass, his work continues to command great interest from mid-century modern collectors. His pieces have recently found their way onto some of the 21st century’s most trendy television and movie sets.
Lacca was born in Naples, Italy, in 1929. Like many Italian designers in the 20th century, he moved to Milan after World War II to launch his career. At the age of 20, he was selected by a group of American curators for inclusion in the 1951 landmark exhibition “Italy at Work: Her Renaissance in Design Today” at the Art Institute of Chicago. It showcased Italian designers who had embraced modernist principles and rejuvenated traditional Italian crafts, like Carlo Mollino, Franco Albini and Gio Ponti.
Lacca designed a dizzying array of tea carts and serving trolleys across his career, including magazine racks and coffee tables. Lacca’s most well-known piece is a tea cart — most commonly used as a bar cart — that Cassina manufactured. It features beautifully sculpted beech, cedar, teak and walnut with brass details, a glass tabletop and a removable glass tray.
This Lacca cart was featured as Don Draper’s office bar in his Manhattan advertising agency on several episodes of the wildly popular television show Mad Men, reinvigorating the interest of collectors. Several other Lacca pieces have been part of the set decorations in the television series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the movie Being the Ricardos.
On 1stDibs, find Cesare Lacca tables, racks and stands, seating and more.
Mid-Century Modern Bar Cart with Tray by Cesare Lacca - Italy
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Girona, Girona
Splendid bar cart, stained beech wood, French polish. Polished brass and glass. Removable tray and bottles containers. Pivotant wheels. Design: Cesare Lacca Italy, circa 1950.
Brass
$4,543
H 25.99 in W 18.12 in D 25.99 in
Small Mid-Century Modern Bar Cart and Magazine Rack by Cesare Lacca - Italy
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Girona, Girona
Small bar cart and magazine rack, stained solid mahogany, French polish, original glasses and mirror. Removable tray, polished brass hardware and wheel...
Brass
Mid Century Italian Bar Cart by Cesare Lacca 1970
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This elegant mid-century bar cart, designed by Cesare Lacca in the 1970s, features a brass frame with sleek black accents and large, stylish wheels. The two-tiered design includes a ...
Brass
$1,850
H 29 in W 18.25 in D 27 in
Ico Parisi Style Italian Mid-Century Bar Cart by Cesare Lacca, Brass & Wood
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Italian Mid-Century bar cart produced by Cesare Lacca, working in a style influenced by Ico Parisi's approach to sculptural, decorative modernism. The brass frame forms a dynamic X-c...
Brass
Bar cart by Cesare Lacca for Cassina – Italy 1948-50
By Cesare Lacca, Cassina
Located in Girona, Girona
Bar cart with two removable trays and a large fixed square tray, solid stained mahogany with french polish, polished brass and glass. Can be completely dismantled. Design: Cesare Lac...
Brass
Cesare Lacca Modernist 3 Tier Bar Cart
By Cesare Lacca
Located in New York, NY
1950's Modernist 3 tier mahogany and brass bar cart designed by Cesare Lacca the top top trays are removable, fully restored with minor wear and patina due to age and use.
Brass
$4,012
H 29.53 in W 32.29 in D 18.51 in
Italian Bar Cart, 1950s, by Cesare Lacca, Sculptural Wood, Glass, gilded brass
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Vigonza, Padua
Elegant Italian mid-century bar cart by Cesare Lacca, produced in the 1950s. The trolley features a sculptural structure in dark lacquered wood with the distinctive organic lines ass...
Crystal, Brass
$2,714
H 31.5 in W 24.81 in D 20.87 in
1950s by Cesare Lacca Italian Design Midcentury Bar Cart Trolley
By Cesare Lacca
Located in Brescia, IT
Mahogany and brass details, crystal tops. Excellent condition, glass perfect.
Crystal, Brass
$4,750
H 32.5 in W 24.5 in D 20.5 in
Mid-Century Modern Bar Cart By Cesare Lacca, Solid and Stained Mahogany
By Cesare Lacca
Located in New York, NY
Mid-Century Modern Bar Cart By Cesare Lacca, Solid and Stained Mahogany- Italy.
Mahogany
Small Table Bar Cart Design Cesare Lacca, 1960s
By Cesare Lacca
Located in taranto, IT
Splendid original bar trolley from the 1960s, production and design by cesare lacca, made of wood, probably cherry, with the usual brass inserts It measures 95 cm in length, 45 cm...
Brass
