Lassù (c2000)
Alessandro Mendini, Vitra Design Museum
Lacquered wood
9h x 5.5w x 5.5d
TOC-A020-Mendini-Lassu
Sold (0)
Contact
The story of the Lassù ("up there") chair is well-known, and marks it as one of the 20th century's most fascinating forays into the design of what we typically class as "functional" objects. In 1974 Mendini developed the chair and set a pair of them on fire in the suburbs of Milan. The image of the conflagration was meant for the cover of issue No. 391 of Casabella, the design and architecture magazine for which he was the editor. Lassù is one of several pieces that Mendini designed specifically to be featured on the magazine's cover—which may be why he referred to them as “oggetti per uso spirituale” [objects for spiritual use]. The remains of this performance are included in the archives of the University of Parma and the Vitra Design Museum Collection.
Around 2000, Vitra produced an edition of 1:6 scale bronze replicas of the chair. A wooden variation was also produced and sent out to clients and vendors who sold the edition.