Mario Bellini "Lira & Liuto" Chairs for Cassina, Bordeaux Leather, 1989, Set of 6

Design
1989

Manufacture
1980-1989

Location
Lonigo, IT

Mario Bellini "Lira & Liuto" chairs for Cassina, bordeaux leather, Italy, 1989, set of six.

The "Lira e Liuto" was designed by Mario Bellini for Cassina in 1989, extending the formal logic of his landmark CAB chair — itself a milestone in Italian postwar furniture design — into a more enveloping, organically resolved form. Where the CAB stretched leather panels over a tubular steel skeleton, the Lira wraps the entire chair in a single continuous skin: saddle leather stitched directly over a metal and foam structure, encasing legs, seat, and backrest in one unbroken surface. The result dissolves the boundary between upholstery and frame in a way that only the finest Italian leather craft allows.
The rounded backrest carries a distinctive relief pattern — curved panels divided by topstitched seams — that gives the chair its sculptural quality without relying on ornament. A small arch cut into the lower back lightens the mass and recalls the instrument whose name the chair takes.

The set can be split. The dining chairs can be sold singularly.