CAB 412 and CAB 413, Cassina, 1977
©Foto Massimo Listri
Mario Bellini (Milan 1935)
Bellini graduated in architecture from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1959, where he studied under Ponti, Portaluppi and Rogers. The beginning of his career saw him focusing mainly on industrial design, serving as a consultant for Olivetti (1963-92). He has collaborated with B&B Italia, Cassina, Flou, Kartell, Renault, Venini and Yamaha, among others. He served as editor of Domus magazine (1985-91). He founded Mario Bellini Associati in 1987, focusing on architecture. His most significant works include the Portello Trade Fair district in Milan, the Villa Erba exhibition centre in Cernobbio, the Tokyo Design Center, the Essen Fair, the Deutsche Bank Headquarters in Frankfurt, the Milan Convention Center and the T3 International Airport Terminal in Fiumicino. Also noteworthy are his museum projects, such as Museo della Storia in Bologna, the Department of Islamic Art at the Louvre in Paris, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. He has been awarded the Compasso d’oro eight times, and also received the Gold medal of the President of the Italian Republic in 2004, the Gold medal for civic merit by the Municipality of Milan in 2011 and a career prize for architecture from the Milan Triennale in 2015. The MoMA has 25 of his works and dedicated a solo exhibition to him in 1987. A retrospective of his works featured in the Triennale in 2017.
“Cab came out as a challenge. I was in the so-called ‘architects’ delivery room’—a creative environment provided by Cassina at the time—when some of the technicians asked me to experiment with a new idea. With a pencil, I drew a basic chair with a slightly inclined backrest and the back legs leaning outwards. I asked the technicians to build the basic structure in welded iron and make the seat and backrest with minimal padding. The result was an extremely simple, almost scrawny chair: to their dismay, I also asked them to upholster its entire frame in fitted leather, including the legs. I did not hesitate to invite Cesare Cassina to see the prototype. The entrepreneur, a man of few words, nodded his head and immediately put it into production. Cab became a bestseller and gave birth to a new kind of chair, still imitated and sold all over the world.” (Mario Bellini)