OSVALDO BORSANI

Villa Borsani — Varedo, Italy

In 1937, Osvaldo Borsani designed Villa Presenti in Forte dei Marmi, a sea town in Tuscany where the Italian aristocracy and industrial elite built their houses, a project that displayed the same rationalistic rigor displayed in Casa Minima, but softened by the use of Mediterranean finishes and materials.

In 1943, Osvaldo designed and built his own house, the Villa Borsani, in Varedo, which displayed objects and art of younger artists that communicated a freer approach to the human expression. Villa Borsani has been preserved with most of its original furniture and remains in the Osvaldo Borsani family along with extensive archives of his work.

After Villa Borsani, Osvaldo continued to develop many projects in Milan. He worked especially close with artist Lucio Fontana, a close friend since the time of the Accademia de Belle Arti di Brera. With Fontana, Borsani integrated sculptural ceramic and bronze elements, wood and gilded stucco, and interventions on glass tabletops with decorations into his designs of the 1930s and 1940s.

In 1953, Osvaldo and his twin brother Fulgenzio founded Tecno, with the aim of utilizing modern manufacturing techniques that delivered high-quality furniture to a larger international market. Initially, Tecno manufactured only Borsani’s furniture designs, and, although he continued to design furniture and objects until the early 1980s, by the late 1950s, Tecno also manufactured furniture from other designers, including Vico Magistretti, Roberto Mango, Gae Aulenti, Eugenio Gerli, Carlo de Carli, and Gio Ponti

Osvaldo Borsani (b. 1911, Varedo, Italy – d. 1985, Milano, Italy) was an Italian designer and architect. His father, Gaetano Borsani, owned a furniture shop, Atelier di Varedo, where Osvaldo received his early training. The designer of the atelier was the architect Gino Maggioni, who brought with him influences of the early 20th century Jugendstil movement from Vienna and who instilled in the young Borsani an appreciation for the art of furniture making. Osvaldo Borsani first studied fine arts at Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, and after graduation in 1931, pursued studies in architecture at Politecnico di Milano, where he graduated in 1936,

In 1933, two years before graduating as an architect, Borsani designed the Casa Minima project for the V Triennale di Milano (Milan Triennial). This project earned
him a silver medal for its Rationalist code and geometries.

Among the most successful and iconic Tecno designs are the 1954 D70, a sofa that can assume approximately 20 positions; the 1955 P40 adjustable lounge chair, described as a “machine for sitting,” with 486 distinct postures; the 1954 T41 dining table; the 1961 AT 16 coat rack; the 1965 Canada chair; the 1968 Graphis office furniture system; and the 1972 P128 office chair.

Along with Eugenio Gerli, Marco Fantoni, his brother Flugenzio, and his daughter Valeria, Osvaldo Borsani founded Centro Progetti Tecno (1970), a design shop focused on creating innovative products and interiors for work and school environments. Early furniture pieces by Tecno can be found in the permanent collections of the MoMA in New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Trienalle di Milano Museum, and the Neue Sammlung in Munich.

In 2018, the Triennale di Milano organized a retrospective of Osvaldo Borsani’s work. The exhibition “Osvaldo Borsani” was co-curated by Tommaso Fantoni, Borsani’s grandson, and Norman Foster, who had worked with Borsani at Tecno.

PIECES BY THIS DESIGNER

P40 chair by Osvaldo Borsani for Tecno