INSIDE BY PORTFOLIO 2020

77 T he late, great Italian architect and designer Cini Boeri is among the most influential of Arflex collaborators. Her partnership with this indomitable furniture brand lasted more than half a century – beginning with her Compasso D’Oro-winning Strips sofa – and her legacy lives on in the numerous iconic Cini Boeri for Arflex furnishings still in production today. Launched in 1968, the Strips Sofa by Cini Boeri for Arflex is a direct follow-on from the designer’s earlier experiments with monobloc seating. The grid-like format of each chair is fully modular and comes in an almost endless number of configurations–join sofas and daybeds to armchairs and poufs in mathematical arrangements that will suit any space. The sofa features removable quilt-like covers that you can unzip. They transform into a blanket, encouraging you to snuggle in. Add matching soft, loose cushions for even more softness. Inside, polyurethane and foam replace traditional wood and metal, creating a sturdy sofa yet lightweight. This pioneering technological innovation revolutionized furniture making of the era. Strips was as well received in the 1970s as it is today, and it remains an ‘evergreen’ product among Arflex’s prestigious sofa offerings. The sofa won the 1979 Compasso d’oro, is held in the Milan F O R E V E R F U R N I S H I N G S The legacy of Cini Boeri will live on in the iconic chairs she designed for Arf lex: Strips, Botolo, and Pecorelle. S P A C E Triennale’s permanent collection, and is still in high demand with interior architects and design devotees. Botolo low or Botolo high: Which would you choose? Before Botolo’s appearance in 1973, the furniture market had not seen a single chair design available in two sizes. Arflex customers could choose between the Botolo dining chair, with tall legs, or an armchair that offered something thoroughly modern, what designer Cini Boeri dubbed “living at a low level”. Almost as tall as it is wide, the armchair encouraged a person to lounge close to the ground, and wheels in the legs meant it could be moved around easily. Re-released by Arflex in 2016 with a wider variety of finishes than ever before, the chair saw a quick resurgence in popularity. It was enthusiastically embraced by high profile spots like The Jaffa, a five-star luxury hotel in Tel Aviv. Today, Botolo comes creatively upholstered in fabric or fur. The structure is crafted from white or black lacquered metal and molded polyurethane foam. The oversized tubular legs, fitted with casters or rubber tread, remain the chairs’ signature marker, whether low or high. The muse for Cini Boeri’s 1972 Pecorelle armchair was the monumental fabric-wrapped landmarks of environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Indeed, how Boeri draped an overstuffed fabric slipcover over the shaped polyurethane and poplar plywood frame of Pecorelle hints at an association with the duo’s encased landscapes. Positioned on thin black legs, the chair evolved from the Strips sofa into a stand-alone form–cloud-like silhouette taking the playful coziness of Strips a step further. It is for its distinctive puffiness that Pecorelle has been playfully nicknamed “the sheep”. Like her buildings, Cini Boeri’s furnishings are equally ageless. They are as functional as they are fashionable, even decades after her most prized pieces were first designed. Simultaneously infused with logic–rational awareness, and influenced by knowledge and joy, Boeri believed passion and emotion could exist alongside functionality in design. By keeping Boeri’s iconic furniture in production, Arflex pays tribute to the iconic designer’s unmatchable talent, unforgettable career, and vibrant life. Pecorelle Strips