These “Canada” or model P110 chairs were designed in 1965 and manufactured by Borsani’s company Tecno. They are technological objects: they are enriched with mechanical components that give them versatility in terms of composition, shape and arrangement.

The Borsani brothers’ company had strong ideals, mainly a philosophy of quality. Just like the company’s name in Italy, these “Canada” lounge chairs are also unmistakeable. The bold lacquered plywood structures have a distinctive shape, which was achieved by cutting and thermoforming the wood.  For Borsani, design was a new way of thinking and building, an idea that came to be through experts trying and moving in a deaf and difficult context to explain and introduce the methods applied in the industry. His idea of design takes form in this pair: The plywood structure serves as the base for the upholstered sections that are divided into three parts. Immediately standing out are the oversized pellets, seven on both sides, that secure the cushions in place, while also increasing the visual quality of the chairs. The extraordinary heritage of craftsmanship in the treatment of materials, in the attention to detail, in the interpretation of the shape defines these chairs. Thanks to the innovative language of the design, these chairs can be fit perfectly into any interior while still standing out visually.

These “Canada” lounge chairs show the rigor of form, the quality of materials and workmanship, and the attention to the opportunities of technology that the manufacturer, Tecno is known for. The chairs have a light bouclé upholstery, which contrasts beautifully to the peculiar body. The chairs have the manufacturer’s label.

SOLD

Condition:

In good vintage condition. Wear consistent with age and use. The chairs have been reupholstered recently in premium bouclé fabric.

Dimensions:

31.02 in W x 32.67 in D x 32.87 in H; Seat height 15.74 in

78.8 cm W x 83 cm D x 83.5 H; Seat height 40 cm

Literature:

Giampiero Bosoni, Tecno, Skira 2011, pp. 120 &121.

Domus Catalogue No. 435 FEB 1966.

Giuliana Gramigna, Repertorio del design italiano per l’arredamento domestico 1950-2000, Ed. Umberto Allemandi & C., Torino, 2003, p. 116.

Giampiero Bosoni, 'Osvaldo Borsani: Architect, Designer, Entrepreneur', Skira/Archivio Osvaldo Borsani, 2018, p. 435.

About the Designer:

Osvaldo Borsani was born in Varedo, Italy in 1911. Son of Gaetano, an established furniture maker in his “Atelier di Varedo”. Sixteen-year-old Osvaldo received his first training in the family business.

In 1933, he participated in the fifth Triennale of Milan with the design for the “Minimal House”, which was awarded the silver medal. In the post-war period, after graduation from Polytechnic, he formed friendships with numerous artists like Lucio Fontana, Agenore Fabbri, Aligi Sassu, Roberto Crippa, Fausto Melotti, and Arnaldo Pomodoro, together with whom he realized important works of art in furnishing and interior architecture.

In 1953, along with his brother Fulgenzio, he founded Tecno, the great project for which he worked his whole life in order to develop standard production with reference to that of design. Its name derived from the Greek 'techne' which means both art and technique. Tecno was born: the perfect synthesis between the artisan experience of the atelier and production on a larger scale, which allows for new market horizons and greater capacity for design innovation. Tecno was born in an Italy that has left wars and misery behind it and that wanted to invent a future of serenity and optimism.

His first industrial designs were the P40 adjustable armchair (1953) and the D70 reversible seat sofa. In 1968, it was the office system Graphis (together with Eugenio Gerli and coming into vogue around the world in a million copies) thanks to which Tecno became a world-leading manufacturer in design for the office.

At the end of the sixties, Osvaldo Borsani, together with Marco Fantoni and Valeria Borsani, created the Tecno Designs Centre, which creates new products and secures for the company the supervision of large interior architectural works, the experimentation in new technologies, and the strategies and the tools of business communication. At the same time Borsani opened up the design to collective uses and to the contribution of external designers. Until his death in 1985, Osvaldo Borsani created and cultivated an attitude of mind which encouraged craftsmanship and an attention to detail and quality. ~H.