Originally Published: 2010-02-07

During the 1960’s, Italian designer Joe Colombo raised the bar for furniture and product design by creating objects that were innovative in form and material and infused with the optimism of that space race era. From Colombo’s Mini Kitchen and Multichair to his later Tube chair and Visiona 1 home furniture system, the Milan designer anticipated the current trend towards multi-functional furniture and was also part of the ’60s design movement that legitimized the use of plastic in serious home design. His creative output was prolific, but sadly brief; Colombo died of heart failure on his 41st birthday – July 30, 1971 – and was denied the chance to experience a future of scientific and technological discovery that clearly fascinated him and motivated his work.
After beginning his career in the 1950’s as a painter and sculptor, Colombo gravitated to product design work after he and younger brother Gianni assumed the daily management of their ill father’s electric conductor factory in Milan. The factory’s business introduced Colombo to plastic material innovations and the discoveries carried over into his sideline design work. By 1962, however, Colombo opened a design studio in Milan and began a decade of intense creativity.
That year’s Roll chair – a unique construction of soft cylindrical padding – was soon followed by Colombo’s Elda chair, the first seat to make use of an extensive fibreglass frame. Next up was the Italian designer’s stackable Universale chair for plastic furniture specialist Kartell. It was one of the first all-plastic chairs and the deliberate small hole in the Universale backrest was a reminder of its manufacture process. With different sized leg sets that were easily fastened and unfastened, the chair was also height adjustable. All of Colombo’s chair designs also exhibited the designer’s fondness for curves and rounded forms.
Colombo’s most famous chair is likely the Tube chair, a surprising self-assembly design manufactured by the Italian furniture company Flexform in the late 1960’s. The chair was actually a set of upholstered plastic cylinders that were joined by metal rings. The shape of the chair was changeable and reflected the era’s trend towards more informal seating and living spaces. (Colombo’s earlier Additional Living System sofa was another variation on a self-assembly design.) When not in use, the Tube chair could also be neatly packed away by placing the smaller cylinders in the larger ones.

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