DESIGNED BY GIO PONTI CIRCA 1955 - 1957, MANUFACTURED BY CASSINA LATE 1950S/EARLY 1960S

To achieve his aim of creating a chair 'without adjectives', Ponti looked to vernacular precedents which had evolved over time. His 'Leggera' of 1951 was based on a traditional Italian chair (see previous lot), and this was subsequently re-designed and perfected as the 'Superleggera', a chair of even greater lightness and strength. The final production model, of which the present chair is an early example, wieghed just 1.7 kilos, and its extraordinary lightness was used as a key marketing feature (see contemporary promotional photograph, reproduced opposite).
See: Design 1935 - 1965: What Modern Was, exh. cat. pp. 136-137.
Vitra Design Museum, exh. cat. no. 49.
Fiell, (1000 Chairs), p. 349.