Cini Boeri "Gradual System" Sofas for Gavina, Camel Velvet, 1970, Set of 2

Design
1970

Manufacture
1970-1979

Location
Lonigo, IT

Cini Boeri "Gradual System" sofa for Gavina, camel velvet, Italy, 1970, set of two.

Designed in 1970 for Gavina, the "Gradual System" is one of Cini Boeri's most architecturally resolved proposals for domestic space. The sofa rests on a sculptural black fiberglass base — glossy and lightweight — which integrates open shelving and concealed storage compartments, making structure and function inseparable.
Upholstered in camel velvet with refined stitching detail, the geometric volumes are both spare and accommodating. Original casters allow the piece to be repositioned freely, a feature central to Boeri's vision of a living environment in constant, deliberate motion — one she would continue to develop through her later "Strips" system for Arflex.
Presented the same year as Mario Bellini's "Camaleonda" and in the same cultural orbit as Joe Colombo's "Tube Chair" and Ettore Sottsass's early spatial experiments, the "Gradual System" belongs to a defining moment in Italian design — one that placed flexibility and spatial intelligence at the center of the domestic conversation. Gavina, as a publisher, had already established the conditions for this kind of radical thinking through its collaboration with figures such as Carlo Scarpa and Marcel Breuer.

The set can be split. The sofas can be sold singularly.