Rocking seat with black leather saddle, pink lacquered steel column and cast-iron hemispherical base
© Zanotta Spa - Italy
© Thibaut Voisin
Their keen sense of observation helps them identify needs before they are expressed. The “Sella” seat for phone conversations, based on a remark passed by Pier Giacomo: “When I use a pay phone, I like to move around, but I also would like to sit, but not completely”, is a case in point. It makes for a rather hesitant posture: halfway between unstable equilibrium and frantic rodeo. The seat shape, which one might think of as immutable, incorporates an industrial element, a tribute to Duchamp’s first ready-made “The Bicycle Wheel ”, 1913 and to Picasso’s “Bull’s head”, 1942. Alongside “Mezzadro”, 1954, “Sella” was shown at Como’s Villa Olmo exhibition Colours and Shapes in today’s home in 1957.