AII - Artist - Borsani, Osvaldo

The new materials which became available after World War Two created a design utopia for designers like Osvaldo Borsani who was renowned for his extreme modernism. Before World War II he collaborated with, for example, Piero Fornasetti and Lucio Fontana. With his brother Fulgenzia, Osvaldo founded Tecno, a notable manufacturer of high quality office furniture in 1952. Although he sometimes commissioned work from other prominent designers, he remained the chief designer at Tecno until his death in 1985. He is especially remembered for two important designs: the P40 Lounge Chair and the D70 Sofa. He designed the P40 Chair in 1954 using black enameled steel and red fabric. This chair, which was not actually manufactured by Tecno until 1960, had 486 adjustable positions. In making his bright purple hi-tech sofa, the D70, which had 90 adjustable positions, Borsani used fiberglass reinforced with polyester as well as wire and rubber shocks Today Borsani’s ultramodern pieces are widely sought after by collectors of mid-twentieth century furniture. Several books deal exclusively with his work.

Literature:
Osvaldo Borsani. 100 pages