Poltrona Frau reissues the Dezza armchair by Gio Ponti with an exceptional fabric

18 July 2023

Gio Ponti designed the Dezza armchair in 1965: the name is a reference to the street where he lived, Via Dezza, in a manifesto studio-apartment that contained the furnishing projects dearest to him, as well as his approach to the design of spaces. His home represented him as well as this armchair tells some of the recurring themes of his design. It is an armchair from the 1960s, years in which the style of furniture was profoundly influenced by the lines dictated by Ponti. He retains all the flavor of those years, without distorting it, but on the contrary, choosing it with a distinctive trait, with pride.

Dezza has a supporting structure in seasoned beech of which you can see the triangular section legs: a distinctive sign of Ponti’s design. The seat is wide, and the backrest is slightly inclined backwards: this detail not only gives greater comfort but also a defined and relaxed look. The curve of the armrests seems to welcome the arms in an informal way but also to recall, on a larger scale, the rhythm of the architecture designed by Ponti in the building sector. With the stylish detail of the two buttons in the center of the backrest and in the center of the soft cushion placed on the seat.

Gio Ponti’s approach was also distinguished by another aspect: the constant attention not only to the aesthetics but also to the use of the furniture, right from the transport and assembly phases which in a modern perspective had to be streamlined and immediate. The Dezza project that Ponti wanted to compose with a limited number of pieces to be assembled is no less: two sides, a seat, and a backrest. The same characteristics return, naturally, also in the sofa: the Dezza collection is therefore the quintessence of Ponti’s taste and design philosophy, espoused by Poltrona Frau also in a new and special edition that has just been introduced. It’s called Redevance and takes its name from the fabric chosen to cover it: a wool satin fabric whose design is the work of Gio Ponti himself. It is a geometric pattern related to the study carried out by Ponti on circular figures and on the relationship between visual solids and voids from which infinite combinations arise. Even the colors of this graphic evoke the universe of Ponti and the aesthetics of the 60s, which is why the Redevance fabric makes the Dezza collection even more iconic.

The choice of fabric is the result of archival research carried out in collaboration with the Archivio Gio Ponti and Manifattura Jsa, a company founded in 1949 by Luigi Grampa, known for its fruitful collaborations with the architect. Grampa was a great innovator in the production of fabrics with modern patterns and it was precisely this that brought him closer to Ponti, making their partnership long and close. Gio Ponti often declared himself enthusiastic about the results obtained with fabric printing together with Manifattura Jsa.

The rediscovery of heritage, in design, is once again a source of surprising and highly fascinating projects and Poltrona Frau’s initiative to explore Gio Ponti’s design culture focuses attention on the formal research he carried out, in the field of graphics and fabric design. This makes it possible to add an important element to the discovery of his production, of his formal as well as design path, following in the footsteps of the story of an architect who has indelibly marked the school of Italian design, and beyond.

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