Arflex

Italy

Corporation

Produzent

In 1947, technicians from the rubber manufacturer Pirelli collaborated with the architect Marco Zanuso to experiment with an innovative new foam rubber – in Italian, 'gommapiuma' – and elastic straps. This cooperation resulted in the birth of Arflex, based in Milan, Italy, in 1950. Zanuso used these materials for lounge chair and sofa upholstery, and brought an early success to the company in 1951 with his presentation of the Lady chair at the IX Triennale di Milano. In addition to its first furniture models, from 1951 and 1954 the company manufactured improved comfort car seats that could be fitted in the Fiat 500 instead of standard cushion variants. In the decades that followed, technical innovations continued to drive the production of multifunctional furniture such as Joe Colombo’s Personal Container (1964) and several designs for seating furniture by the likes of Franco Albini, Cini Boeri, and the Studio BBPR. In collaboration with Boeri, in 1967 Arflex presented Bobo, a frameless chair made entirely of polyurethane. It formed the material basis for later designs, such as the Serpentone sofa (1971) also by Boeri. Around this time, the company transferred its production facilities to the Northern Italian town of Limbiate and built up a network of partner companies that took over production and sales in many European countries and overseas. In the 1980s, a change of ownership expanded the circle of designers working for Arflex to include names such as Anna Castelli Ferrieri, Burkhard Vogtherr, and Isao Hosoe. Bed manufacturer Seven Salotti took over the company in 1995. Today’s Arflex designers include Luca Nichetto and Jean Nouvel. Arflex, ed., Sixty Years of History (Giussano: Arflex, 2007). ‘Mobili in gommapiuma alla Triennale’, Domus, 261 (September 1951). Sparke, Penny, Italian Design 1870 to the Present (London: Thames & Hudson, 1988).