A Futuristic Chair From the ’50s

The modern architect Gio Ponti created many of his iconic furniture pieces between the wars, but those from the 1950s are among his most sensuously radical. Embracing the revolution in industrial manufacturing and new materials in Europe, he conceived of the Round D.154.5 chair in 1954. With its contoured, soap bar-shaped back and seat, connected by two arcs of molded plywood, it was covered in two-tone Vipla, an Italian marine vinyl. Ponti referred to it informally as “otto pezzi,” or “eight pieces,” for the number of components used in the deceptively simple design, and featured the hyperfuturistic chair at Alitalia’s Manhattan offices, which opened in 1958. Now, in collaboration with the Ponti archives, the Italian furniture brand Molteni & C has reimagined the work in ash wood and covered in a variety of textiles and leathers, including this terra-cotta-colored linen. Wearing its covert innovations lightly, and still fashioned from a mere otto pezzi, the chair remains as rigorously insurgent as it is supremely comfortable. Round D.154.5, $5,360, shop.molteni.it.

Photo assistant: Guillermo Cano. Styling assistant: Marina Bevilacqua