D.154.5 Armchair

Brand: Molteni&C
Designer: Gio Ponti
Year: 1954/2021
 
The early 1950s marked a turning point in Gio Ponti’s furniture designs, towards highly innovative solutions linked to functional and essential shapes: the end of the Second World War, with the desire to restart and rebuild a modern world full of novelties, thus moving away from the past; the availability of innovative materials, which made it possible to conceive objects that were previously unfeasible.
 
The project name, Round D.154.5, comes from the rounded shape of the seat and backrests, also referred to as the ‘soap bar’.

Characterized by avantgarde materials and technologies, such as the Vipla (a plastic material that resembles leather) for the upholstery, curved plywood to join the backrest and seat, and metal feet with non-slip tips that are easy to assemble.
 
Round (D.154.5) is also referred to as ‘Otto Pezzi’ (Eight Pieces) in the Ponti/Fornaroli/Rosselli study. In fact, there are eight pieces that make up the chair: backrest, seat, two curved plywood elements and four legs, which screw into the seat to hold the whole thing together.
 
Designed in 1954, full production began in 1956/1957 and it was officially presented at the 11th Milan Triennale in 1957 (Feal Pavilion), along with other innovative Ponti furnishings, in a limited number of examples which are now highly sought after by collectors.