Just in: Antonio Citterio Diesis chaise lounge for B & B Italia

June 12, 2012

The chaise lounge or day bed has long been a staple of the modernist interior, ever since Le Corbusier, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, and Charlotte Perriand’s iconic design for the LC4 chaise-longue in 1928, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s day bed design for the home of Philip Johnson in 1930, and Marcel Breuer’s laminated birch Long Chair for the Lawn Road apartments in London, 1936.

In 1979, the underrated Italian architect and furniture designer Antonio Citterio followed in the modernist tradition of his esteemed predecessors to design the Diesis chaise lounge for B & B Italia. With perfect poise and proportions, an elegant and uncluttered polished die-cast aluminum frame that is beautiful from every angle, and large inviting deep angular cushions, it rightfully deserves equal success and recognition.

The desirability of the Diesis chaise lounge is further enhanced by the fact that unlike themuch copied work of his modernist predecessors, this design is only available through special order from the manufacturer, not mass produced.

Citterio is one the least known, yet one of the most prolific and successful designers working today. He graduated in architecture from Milan Polytechnic in1972 and in 1975 set up his own practice. To date he has won the Compass d’Oro twice, both in 1987 and 1995, and is currently design advisor to the Universita della Svizzera Italia and the Academy of Architecture in Mendoriso.

Examples of his work are displayed in the permanent collections of many of the most important museums, including MoMA and the Centre Georges Pompidou.

- Dan Tolson, Director of 20th Century Decorative Art & Design

Lot Information: 

Antonio Citterio
Dieses chaise lounge
B & B Italia, designed 1979
Estimate $1,500 – 2,000
To be offered in October 7, 2012 auction