Italian Art Deco Sofas with Integrated Cabinets, 1930s, Set of 2

Design
1930s

Manufacture
1930-1939

Location
Lonigo, IT

Italian Art Deco sofas with integrated cabinets, walnut and velvet, 1930s, set of two.

These two sofas come from Italy's Art Deco years in the 1930s, and they share the architectural language of the period's best seating: long, low benches set on a recessed plinth, framed in figured walnut chosen for the movement of its grain. What sets them apart is the cabinet built into one end of each, a vertical unit with open shelves and a small hinged door that turns the arm into a piece of casework. The two are mirrored, so that placed side by side or facing one another their cabinets read as a matched pair rather than a repeat.
The construction is solid and frank: panels of walnut wrap the body and the cabinet, while the exposed backs show the plain secondary timber and joinery of furniture made to stand against a wall. A continuous cushioned seat runs the length of each frame beneath a low back, leaving the wood and the proportions to carry the design. Substantial in scale, the pair anchors a large room and sits as comfortably in a period interior as in a spare contemporary one.

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