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El Greco Contracts LTD

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“This was a new kind of chair, constructed totally out of leather, much cloned since then.” Thus Mario Bellini describes Cab, a best-seller that he designed in the 1970s, which is now a signature piece in Cassina’s I Contemporanei collection. Cab was the first-ever chair to feature a free-standing leather structure, inspired by how our skin fits over our skeleton. The upholstery consists of sixteen pieces of saddle leather. Individually die-cut, they then undergo fourteen discrete procedures, again by hand. The pieces are sewn together only when their outer edges have been trimmed to ensure a perfect fit. Once assembled, the cover is attached to the chair’s steel skeleton and held in place by means of a zipper fastening, as in a bespoke tailored garment. The wide array of colours for the saddle leather cushion is now complemented by pigmented saddle leather in black, brown and Russian red. 

About Designer
Mario Bellini

Mario Bellini, born 1935 in Milan, studied architecture at the Milan Polytechnic. He taught at the Istituto Superiore di Disegno Industriale in Venice from 1962-65 and worked as a design consultant for Olivetti from 1963-91. He also designed independent products and furnishings beginning in 1963, establishing the architectural and design firm Studio Bellini in Milan in 1973. He served as a design consultant to Renault from 1978-82. In 1987 the New York Museum of Modern Art honoured him with a retrospective exhibition of his works. He was an instructor at the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna from 1982-83 and at the Domus Academy in Milan from 1983-85. Bellini was chief editor of Domus magazine between 1986-91. He assumed a position on the architectural faculty at the University of Genoa in 1995, and teaches seminars and workshops at universities and academic institutions around the world.