Soriana sofa

"Knowing how to build is a debt to technique. Knowing how to give a meaning to things I create is a debt to logic required by the forms"

--Afra and Tobia Scarpa

Afra Scarpa (born in 1937) and Tobia Scarpa (born in Venice in 1935), the son of renowned Italian architect Carlo Scarpa both graduated from the Venetian architecture major and later married. The couple have been working together since 1957. Their design content covers many aspects, including architectural design, interior design and industrial design. Among them, the Scarpas designed many famous furniture works.

The Scarpas have been designing furniture for cassina, a world-renowned furniture design company, since 1963. It can be said that they were most directly involved in shaping the mainstream style of furniture design in the 60s and 70s. However, their designs followed the prevailing styles in the world at that time and still insist in their own unique aesthetic and design style.

From the furniture works designed by Scarpas, we can see their preference for simple, low base, wide modeling, but at the same time convey good details and ingenuity in the structure. Their design embodies the luxurious of Italian design. They are internationally renowned, and many of their designs are even more popular today.

In 1970 the Scarpas designed the Soriana furniture range, which includes an armless chair, a love seat, a triple, a stool and a chaise lounger.

○ Soriana sofa○

The innovation of this a series of furniture is reflected not only in modelling, but more in the constituting way. Traditionally, soft cover furniture is usually made from the innermost wooden frame to the outer filler material, then to the linear frame that wraps the filler material, and finally to the outermost textile fabric or leather. This series of furniture uses a small wooden underframe to support a polychlorinated foam pad covered with soft thylon synthetic cotton. At the same time, the front and rear parts are fixed with chrome plated steel wire clips.

This furniture series won a gold medal at the Milan Triennial and is listed in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Afra and Tobia Scarpa also won the Golden Compass Award in 1970 for their design.