“Having designed the table we then had to think about a chair and we obtained two matching chairs with a minimum of waste from the same board of plywood used for the table Andrea”. Arch. Giuseppe Pilla
The chair Alessia is the negative or reverse of the table, its shape being determined by how the plywood panel was cut for the table top. The distinctive curve of the backrest fits the profile of the Andrea table extensions.
Tanaro, the mahogany plywood made for Atanor using formaldehyde-free glue was also used for the Alessia chair, while a foam rubber cushion with eco-leather cover was created for the seat.
“The various customisable solutions and combinations…are intended to bring back with a new twist the romantic atmosphere of exclusive welcome that a table and chair have always expressed”.
Giuseppe Pilla designed Andrea out of a practical necessity to make a dining table for his son – hence the name – to put in his new home, where the available space was insufficient to have a particularly large table top. A “fratino” (convent style) table was therefore decided on – a long, narrow table or desk, ideal for furnishing that unavoidably confined new “dining cum living” room which is so popular nowadays.
“Compared to a round table and wall-mounted solutions, the overriding aspect is its capacity to stand up to the sofa which is, likewise, the most ambiguous among seats”.
Andrea is an elegant rectangular table that expands to become oval, providing more space for seating. The two side panels offering the possibility of extension are deliberately left in full view instead of being concealed inside the structure, as usually happens. In this case they are a dynamic part of the shape and the appearance of the table.
The table top is made with Tanaro, the formaldehyde-free plywood made exclusively for Atanor in mahogany.
“When I design, some incident or other always crops up to make me re-design. Then the client arrives and wants something changed. As in the case of this table, which was finished along the lines of the chair Oscarina but the client decided he wanted removable legs”;
“the resulting table has ended up being more gratifying than the first because there are more arguments to be found in its formal intensity, which generate a form of dialogue with those who live with it”.
The table Muto. The top is a sheet of Ornata ash plywood created exclusively for Atanor, certified as having been made with formaldehyde-free glue.
The legs and rails are like those of the Oscarina chair, joined together with a singular finger joint system that enhances both its robustness and simplicity.
As a finishing touch to conceal the mechanical fixings, the architect Scarpa decided on mother-of-pearl inlays machined one by one and arranged flush with the top and the side of the table.
It was a continual challenge to bring to fruition the Oscarina chair. It all started on 2 January 2004 with the company closed for the Christmas holiday.
“Are you working today? I’ll be round to see you at two this afternoon”. Question and answer all in one. Tobia Scarpa.
Challenge won, after hundreds of samples, tests, modifications, updates and checks at Catas, with another call from Tobia to the joinery to tell Oscar personally: “I’ve seen the finished chair. You’ve worked a small miracle”. We named it Oscarina because of the passion and hard work put into it by Oscar Merotto, an extraordinary craftsman of our joinery.
Heartwood of ash, bent wood surfaces, flowing shapes, gentle curves, bold joints, little glue, no paint or varnish, the little silver Atanor logo. This is Oscarina.
The chair only tells its full story if observed through the details and turned upside down, where the architect’s magic and the skill of the craftsman become clear.
Oscarina is supplied in natural ash, with the possibility of natural leather upholstery for the seat and backrest.
I wished to create an object that satisfied two conditions: that it be a low coffee table and also be a dining room table, with the consequence of being able to adjust the height to the context. Leonardo is a response to a new way of inhabiting space compared to the past, a different way of relating to people.
Forcolini believes that design can be enduring only if it has meaning for people and the way they live. This table must in fact be understood as an expression of the centrality of man and his needs in relation to the present.
Leonardo is “a table that seeks to bring all of these considerations together, to be in tune with the times, that fulfills people’s needs and serves to unite, not divide, that brings out the relations between human and not the relations of power”. (C. Forcolini)
The tabletop is made of mahogany plywood, produced exclusively for atanor with a mahogany essence veneer. The veneer was applied in a running matched pattern as specified in the design, maintaining the original idea of a darker mahogany circle at the center and a lighter crown around the outside divided into twelve equal sections.
“The mechanical function is ensured by the hidden telescopic system that raises the tabletop, while the form is determined by the vertical structure that also expresses the transformation from low table to tall table”. (C. Forcolini)
The vertical structure is the point of departure for the project. “We started with the slats which represent our dogma”. They are made of solid mahogany, shaped and processed to contain the vertical lift with elegance.
