FRANCO ALBINI
LB7 SHELVING
Although he was a major influence on 20th Century design, Franco Albini is hardly the household name he deserves to be. Only a small number of his designs are in production, but what there is shows a clear and powerful design mind at work. Originally designed for Poggi and still coveted on the secondary market, Albini's LB7 (or 835 Infinito) was designed in 1957 and has been re-issued by Cassina, as part of their Albini "I Maestri Series". I hope to see more of his inventive shelving resurrected in the future.
Jane Audas writes:
ReplyDeleteReally nice work, this. Which came first, though - the LB7 or the 606 compressed from Dieter Rams? Not sure if Rams claimed to be first, even. But it's interesting watching the inter-play between designers and their products mid-century.
I enjoy your blog a lot, too.
Best wishes
Jane
Jane Audas
www.shelfappeal.com
I replied:
Hi Jane,
The LB7 (1957) came before the 606 (1960), but it wasn't the first compressed pole system. I'm not sure what the first one was, but the 1946 Vico Magistretti version [shown in the link reading "inventive shelving", above] predates the LB7 by a decade.