Designer
Mario Bellini for FLOS

Description
A cult object from the 70s, Chiara brilliantly combines its explosive simple design - it was made from a single steel sheet, cut and rolled up in a cylinder - with a charismatic and highly evocative shape: similarly to a nun with a large coronet that diffuses the light. On top of that, Mario Bellini names it Chiara, similarly to the saint of Assisi, founder of the order of the Poor Clares, who embraced Franciscan poverty. For the architect and designer, one of the most influential personalities on the creative scene, a great experimenter and intuitive designer (winner of eight Compassi d'Oro awards, 25 of his pieces are part of the permanent collection of the MoMa, he invented the P101 for Olivetti - the first personal computer – the director of Domus '86-'91 and much more), Chiara is the result of research begun in 1968 with paper models, for a lamp with diffused and reflected light and a hidden light bulb.

Biography
Born in Milan in 1935, Bellini attended the Politecnico di Milano for a degree in architecture. He graduated in 1959, and from the very beginning of his career his prominence increased rapidly. From 1959 to 1962, Mario Bellini managed the design department of the Italian department store La Rinascente, and in 1963, he served as chief design consultant for Olivetti, a role that he retained until 1993. Also in 1963, Bellini opened his own design studio, Studio Bellini, and created an array of innovative Italian furniture design pieces, such as the 932 leather armchair designed for Cassina in 1964.

In 1970, Mario Bellini designed the Colonato table, made out of travertine marble and inspired by the ancient Roman columns. In 1972, Bellini designed the now iconic mobile environment Kar-a-Sutra, which was a concept car and a play on the cultural fascination with the automobile. Part jest and part a striking vision of the future, Bellini’s Kar-a-Sutra was intended to showcase a new age wherein the car could become a space for human living and interaction. So striking was this concept car that it was included in the pivotal 1972 exhibition “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape” at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The 1970s was a decade of prolific design output for Mario Bellini; the same year of the Kar-a-Sutra, he designed Le Bambole arm chair and sofa for B&B Italia, a collaboration that would endure over the years, and the Camaleonda sofa for C&B Italia. He also designed the Divissuma calculator for Olivetti in 1973; the CAB leather chair and lounge chairs for Cassina in 1977; and the Persona office chair for Vitra in 1979. Other important furniture designs from later years are the Bellini chair for Heller in 1998, for which he was awarded a Compasso d’Oro in 2001; the Ypsilon office chair for Vitra in 2001; and the Opera armchair by Meritalia in 2016.

Condition
Incredible vintage condition , ca. 1970’s, Italy

Measurements
H 145 x W 73 x D 51 CM