5 Design armchairs and sofas for a trendy living room

The history of Italian design is marked by a number of different famous sofas and armchairs that were once experimental prototypes conceived by designers to test their techniques and creativity. Modern or vintage seats that have established themselves as contemporary icons whose main features are their often eccentric shapes and original approach along with their playful irony and cutting-edge design.

An example of this is the well-known ‘Sacco’ by Zanotta: an ergonomic easy-chair with no rigid framework, covered by a special envelope containing highly resistant expanded polystyrene pellets, that has changed forever the simple act of being seated, accompanying the social changes which have characterized the last decades of the 20th century. The idea to produce this original seat was presented in 1968 by three young and still almost unknown designers - Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini e Franco Teodoro – to entrepreneur Aurelio Zanotta and soon became the new generations’ iconic armchair, the one in which the hilariously notorious accountant Mr Fracchia – a symbol of the rigid petty bourgeoisie – hopelessly and invariably sank. New colored versions of the ‘Sacco’ armchair as well as the pied-de-poule patterned one and a version covered in outdoor fabric are also available today.

The famous ‘Bocca’ (Mouth) sofa by Gufram features an artistic source of inspiration: it was designed in 1971 by architects of Turin-based Studio 65 as a “tribute to Salvador Dalì” in his famous portrait Mae West’s Face (1934) . Designed for a private customer, ‘Bocca’ is the Pop icon par excellence, a mixture of sex-symbol, Hollywood glamour and Surrealism, yet at the same time a product of the 1970s experimentation on multi-density expanded polyurethane foam. This limited edition sofa is also available in the new ‘Boccadorata’ (Golden Mouth) 2016 version.

Super-feminine, endowed with a good measure of irony, ‘Up’ armchair was conceived by artist-designer Gaetano Pesce for B&B Italia in 1969 and produced anew in 2000. Big, soft and gently enveloping, available in different colors, it is – especially in the Up5_6 versions with pouf – a metaphor of the welcoming feminine womb, made prisoner by a symbolic ball and (invisible) chain.

An actual 1980s symbol, ‘Wink’ easy chair by Cassina has marked an informal, colorful turning point in our contemporary living trends. Designed by Toshiyuki Kita, this comfortable adjustable lounger “with the Mickey Mouse ears” was and still is a playful, cutting-edge piece of furniture, now available in the collection ‘I Contemporanei’ by Cassina in new color versions.

‘Three Sofa’ by Cappellini, designed by Jasper Morrison in 1992, features a double curvy (sinouos) wave mixed with an seeming rigidity. Conceptually distant from the classic sofa, it evokes 1960s experimentation on polyurethane foam for vintage design armchairs, yet with a minimalist flair that already foreshadows the 1990s decade.