699 SUPERLEGGERA (Request Info)

MODERN ICON

Manufactured since 1957, the 699 Superleggera wood chair is the rare combination of the architect’s innovative quest and the cutting-edge experimentation by the Meda-based company, becoming the indisputable icon and masterpiece of modernity and extreme artisanal elegance.

A highlight of Cassina’s catalogue since 1957, the 699 Superleggera represents the perfect outcome between the creative imagination of the architect Gio Ponti, and Cassina’s manufacturing excellence, an undisputed icon that is both of- the-moment and pays tribute to traditional artisanal skills. Superleggera demonstrates the constructive prowess of the MedaMade craftsmen: the challenge they faced, of making an extra-light chair, was overcome with the Superleggera’s legs having a cross-section of just eighteen millimetres, the whole weighing a mere 1,700 grams! While the frame exploits the inherent lightness and flexibility of ashwood, the seat surround is in beech, which is more close-grained and stronger. The wood parts are created by machine, and hand-finished, glue being applied with a brush, the excess being wiped off, and the seat being hand-woven. Thus do crafts expertise and industrial innovation come together in what we could call a “prime object”, informed by the chair-making traditions of Chiavari, in Liguria, northern Italy. The Superleggera is available both in the classic version or with coloured legs, as well as with a padded seat.

A chair that took Gio Ponti years to perfect, paring down the triangular section of the legs to only 18 millimeters to reach the actual minimum weight of just 1,700 grams.