Stadera desk for Casa Caterina Marcenaro
October 22, 1951
Black painted metal, walnut veneer and brass, the top with close-nailed felt surface, and slate stone base
One of a kind
56¼ w x 32¾ d x 30¼ h in.
The Stadera desk for Casa Caterina Marcenaro was custom made by Italian architect and furniture designer Franco Albini for the Director of the Fine Art Office of Genova and museum curator Caterina Mecenaro in 1951. It is an asymmetric twin level desk accompanied by a movable pedestal of five drawers (with inter locking system) with twin upper-handles and lower castors. This one-of-a-kind Stadera desk for Casa Caterina Marcenaro is sold with Certificate of Authenticity issued by Fondazione Franco Albini.
As Franco Albini was designing the Stadera desk, he was also designing the new museography for the Genova museum in which, among other things, he placed old medieval stone sculptures on top of movable metal pedestals or platforms. This versatile, simple and novel approach, allowed the visitors to view and experience the works from all angles and without the physical and psychological barriers imposed by a vitrine or a glass. A few years later, in 1956, Lina Bo Bardi designed for Sao Paulo’s contemporary art museum, MASP, an innovative museography approach in which she placed paintings on glass panels freeing them from their perpetual nexus to the walls. If you like this Stadera desk designed by Franco Albini, you may like to explore Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi furniture and architectural contributions at Casati Gallery’s page.
Franco Albini - Minimum Design pg. 80-81, Giampiero Bosoni
Antonio Piva, Vittorio Prina - Franco Albini 1905-1977 pg. 306,
Franco Albini - Zero Gravity, Costruire le Modernità pg. 266-267, Federico Bucci, Fulvio Irace
Giampiero Bosoni and Federico Bucci - Il Design E Gli Interni Di Franco Albini 2016, pg. 114, Milano, Mondadori Electa SpA
Explore other Franco Albini products at Casati Gallery
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