In the 1930s, Franco Albini, an exponent of Italian Rationalism, often used tubular steel, a material of crucial importance to modernist design. Albini drew inspiration for the frame of this desk from the design principle of crossed legs, in use from antiquity. The desk first appears in 1938 photographs of Albini’s own home and the Villetta Pestarini in Milan, without drawers in one case and with them in the other.
The two sets of crossed legs made of square tubular steel are connected by a steel bar with an X-shaped cross section, making for a very sturdy structure. The bar also supports the set of drawers screwed onto the table legs. The plastic caps on both ends of the legs serve as protective feet and as soft surfaces for the glass tabletop to rest on. They can be read as a stylized rendering of the hoof- or paw-shaped feet typical of ancient furniture. Originally produced only in a small, handcrafted series, the table went into serial production at Knoll in 1949 and since then has been reissued – with minor modifications – several times.
Text: Mathias Remmele
