◿ MIES BY ARCHIZOOM

Designed by Archizoom Associati for Poltronova in 1969, the Mies armchair begins with an unexpected idea: turning a material associated with industrial conveyor belts into a place to sit.

A strip of natural para rubber, strong and elastic, is stretched across a geometric chrome-plated steel structure, reducing the conventional armchair to a few essential elements. In deliberate contrast with the industrial character of the seat, the headrest is upholstered in ponyskin.
The name Mies emphasizes the resemblance of its rigorous structure to the architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, conceived as a tribute to the great master who died in the same year, 1969.

Alongside the armchair, Poltronova presented something even more unexpected: a matching luminous footrest, combining the same steel structure and ponyskin upholstery with light. Together, the two pieces blur the boundaries between furniture, industrial materials and the domestic landscape.
Born from the experimental language of Archizoom Associati, Mies transforms an industrial component into a provocative piece of furniture: essential in construction, unconventional in material, and unmistakably Poltronova.

✧ Mies armchair and luminous footrest are produced by Poltronova.

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✧ Everyday object. Larger than life.

Meet Joe.

Designed by De Pas, D’Urbino and Lomazzi for Poltronova in 1970, Joe transforms one of the most recognizable objects in American culture, the baseball glove, into an unexpectedly generous place to sit.

Its name is a tribute to Joe DiMaggio, the legendary baseball player who had already transcended sport to become an American cultural icon.
Inspired by the visual language of Pop Art, the designers took something familiar and changed its scale completely. The glove became monumental. The object became furniture. And something associated with the baseball field suddenly entered the domestic interior.

That shift in scale is what gives Joe its unmistakable presence.
Large, soft and immediately recognizable, the chair invites interaction almost instinctively. You don’t simply look at Joe. You climb into it, sit inside it, move with it. Hidden wheels underneath make its oversized form unexpectedly mobile, adding another playful dimension to the experience.

More than five decades after its creation, Joe still has the ability to stop people in their tracks.
Perhaps because it sits somewhere between furniture, sculpture and cultural memory.

Or perhaps because the best design can take something everyone knows and make us see it completely differently.

☞ Joe: armchair by De Pas, D’Urbino, Lomazzi. Poltronova. 1970.
⚾︎ Joe Ball: footrest by D’Urbino, Lomazzi. Poltronova. 2020.

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🐚 GHERPE TABLE LAMP BY SUPERSTUDIO

Designed by Superstudio for Poltronova in 1968, Gherpe is a table lamp that refuses to behave like a conventional lighting object. Its sculptural form recalls the shell of a marine creature, while its use of methacrylate, an industrial material, places it somewhere between the organic and the artificial.

Conceived during Superstudio’s experimental research into objects and domestic space, Gherpe is also an early example of interactive lighting design. Rather than simply providing illumination, the lamp establishes a relationship with the user: its overlapping methacrylate elements filter and transform the light, making Gherpe a luminous presence that changes according to how it is experienced.

Functional yet deliberately unconventional, Gherpe turns a familiar typology—the table lamp—into something ambiguous, playful and almost alive. A small luminous creature that sits within a room rather than simply lighting it.

Produced in Italy by Poltronova, Gherpe remains a distinctive expression of Superstudio’s Radical Design research, where technology, artificial materials and imagination challenged conventional ideas of furniture and everyday objects.

#Poltronova #GherpeLamp #Superstudio #RadicalDesign #ItalianDesign

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✲ Superonda: dynamic sofa by Archizoom Associati for Poltronova, 1967

Superonda: designed without a conventional frame, legs or backrest, a sofa challenging the established typology of upholstered furniture.

Superonda is composed of two polyurethane elements cut from a single block and can be arranged in different configurations.
One very unapologetic idea of living.

#Poltronova #SuperondaSofa #ArchizoomAssociati #Florence #RadicalDesign

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