Dining Set with Centro Progetti Tecno Table and Eero Saarinen Chairs

Centro Progetti Tecno, dining or conference table model 'T335', lacquered wood, aluminum, Italy, 1975-1978

Large dining or conferenced table with a black lacquered wooden top that has an incredibly soft texture. The table is composed of two parts that are visually connected through a diagonal, thin line. The tabletop is mounted on four dual supports in cast aluminum that contribute to its constructive appearance.

Centro Progetti Tecno (CPT) originated within Tecno as a separate institution that focused on industrial and communication design. Marco Fantoni was the leading figure supported by other principal colleagues in the company, such as Osvaldo & Valeria Borsani, Enrico Regondi, Kugo Toru, Signor Grassi, Roberto Davoli, and Eugenio Gerli. They strongly believed in team spirit and disguised putting the designer names on items. Therefore, all pieces of furniture created within Tecno be presented as the creation of the team.

Please note that this table is in good, used condition with scratches and wear. Restoration is possible before shipping by our experienced craftsman and -women in our own in-house restoration atelier. With high attention for the original, they make sure every piece retains its value and is ready for the many years to come. We kindly ask you to contact our design experts for further information about the endless possibilities our restoration and upholstery atelier has to offer. Of course, a locally organized restoration is possible as well.
Eero Saarinen for Knoll International, limited edition set of fourteen ‘Conference’ armchairs, fabric, chromed metal, France, Paris, designed in 1957

This large set of armchairs was commissioned by the UNESCO Headquarters located in Paris. This iconic building was completed on 3 November 1958 by a team of three leading architects of that time: Bernard Zehrfuss, Marcel Breuer, and Pier Luigi Nervi. The Advisory Committee of Architects chaired by Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier, to name a few, were involved in the development of the architectural process. This set of chairs were part of the auditorium. This model features a sled base based on a trapezoidal shape, and, therefore, differs from his well-known ‘Conference’ chair introduced in 1946. The back has an open structure and runs smoothly into the armrests, creating nice comfort for the arms. The seat is upholstered in the original fabric embodying a checkered pattern of black and white small squares. A mere 800 units of this particular model were manufactured exclusively for the project, specifically to furnish the main conference room and select work areas within the building. This quantity is significantly smaller when compared to the aforementioned iconic Conference chair, which is still in production, resulting in a much larger quantity of chairs being produced. Underneath each armchair, a small label with an UNESCO serial number is attached.
Knoll International was founded in New York by the 26 year old German Hans Knoll (1914-1955) in 1938. Hans' father, Walter Knoll, was a true modernist and furniture manufacturer who had a reputation for quality. When Hans Knoll died at a young age his wife Florence Knoll took over and under her influence the company flourished and created its best designs. She designed and led the company where she cooperated with talented designers such as Eero Saarinen, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Richard Schultz and Harry Bertoia.

Eero Saarinen (1910-1961) was a Finnish-American architect who helped to shape the American postwar architecture of progression and optimism. Saarinen designed several airports and worked for large corporate clients such as IBM and General Motors. This meant that the identity of Saarinen's architecture went hand in hand with the identity of these companies. His design was also used in many companies and homes and thus helped to shape the aesthetic landscape of the United States in the 1950s and 1960s.

Dimensions chairs: Height 82.5 cm Width 64.5 cm Depth 62.5 cm

Please note that the fabric shows wear and some tears. Reupholstery is possible before shipping by our experienced craftsman and -women in our own in-house restoration atelier. With high attention for the original, they make sure every piece retains its value and is ready for the many years to come. We kindly ask you to contact our design experts for further information about the endless possibilities our restoration and upholstery atelier has to offer. Of course, a locally organized reupholstery is possible as well. The price listed is for the whole set including the reupholstery hours in our atelier, excluding fabric costs.

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